Parallels
by CataclysmicReality
Summary: Leading into Vol 5&6 interaction with Prince, a scenario similar to his own unfolds with another gamer who needed to hide his identity. Now as a girl in the East, what fate will await when the two transgendered meet? Especially when they've met before?
1. First Meeting

Parallels

Chapter 1: **First Meeting**

Location: Deep in the lesser virtual reality of the game "World"

The sound of metal clashing against metal rang true through the canyon settlement known by the various area warrior tribes as Hell's Abandon, where those of the higher character classes came to clash, and those of the weaker came to seek the treasure thought to be found there. As it was among those that gathered, it was true that many were esteemed warriors who fought for the glory and the hope of level advancement… but at least one was of the foolish, a pony-tailed girl, slight and nimble. One that clearly did not belong among the dueling fighters—and as it was unspoken law that the weak ought to perish; it wasn't long before the blades had turned on her.

However, it was just as the young girl began to quiver in fear that a mighty beast rushed forward to her aid taking the blades meant for her, but to little effect. At once, the fox eared humanoid howled in rage as he took the nearest warrior and wrenched him free of his armor, before taking the sword arms of the adjacent ones and using their momentum to kill each other. The last he knocked unconscious and left for the others, before rounding on the shaking girl.

"Feng Xiao Xiao!" He yelled out in exasperation. "Just what were you thinking?! Didn't I tell you not to come here?"

"You did…" said the girl with a cowering expression. "But the rumors of treasure here! And that if you take from Abandon's Guardian deity, you can buy levels!" She lowered her eyes to the ground. "I was just thinking of making myself less of a burden for you."

The beast form of Zhuo fell silent. _Xiao Lan… _ That she was thinking of herself in such a way—it hurt that she had felt such even though it was merely her company that he enjoyed the most.

"Feng Xiao Xiao…" Zhuo began with a softer tone, "You don't need to pursue such reckless stories to find a way to level faster, there is no hurry and we can do it together."

The girl Xiao Lan looked at her beast husband. "Okay." She then turned her eyes to the greater battle before them that seemed to move at a pace that was set in a separate world from their own. However, it wasn't so much the battle before them that had her attention, but the canyon walls and their many tiers that were occupied by combatants, mercenaries, and horrible beasts that would surely block their ascent.

Thinking back to it now, she couldn't even remember how she had gotten here.

All of a sudden, a loud drum beat began to sound, which echoed loudly against the stone walls and floor, one loud enough to stop the activities of the many levels up all the way towards the top of the great divide.

"What's going on?" She asked with worried words to her companion.

The beast character of Zhuo looked to the skull-like rock face far before them at the opposite side of the chasm. "I do not know…" he stated as he kept his eyes unmoving from that image, "but I think the answer lies with that."

Nearly as perfect punctuation, the beats stopped and the skull-rock split apart at a previously invisible seam. With a grinding noise of stone against cold stone, the skull broke open towards them… two doors riddled with clever fascination in runes and decorative treasures that practically pulled one towards it with a feeling of glee and lust for treasure. As it was, it took the character of Xiao Lan everything she had simply to resist its pull.

Past the opening, a deep abyss of the densest of lightless worlds laid tucked back within the wall, one that reeked of boundless death and anguish. It was from this world that a sound of chain mail emanated, with the dull sound of metals sliding against other metals, and the soft footfalls that placed even the most hardened faces among those of the paling. It was then that he appeared at last, like a phantom from the darkness, as his armor was of the blackest of the metals made, which all the more blended him into the darkness he had emerged from.

Without pausing a moment, he strode forward from his cavern, and out onto a long and narrow strip of raised earth until he came to a stop at is circular end. Although Xiao Lan could not make out his appearance from the distance, he did not appear to her as an unattractive man, just a very intimidating one. It was at that point he spread his armored arms and addressed those gathered before him in a loud, clear voice.

"Warriors, thieves, and those others foolish enough to challenge my domain, I bid you welcome! Let your battles pause and try your fury against he who has crafted this domain as his own, let this humble executioner have his blade touch against your lives and allow my senses to partake of your final aggressions, before you join with the rest in Abandon's hold. For I am Abandon's Guardian and I invite you to the bloodbath!"

Finalizing his declaration, he drew a large jewel-encrusted double edged broad sword from his sheath and raised it high above him. Then at random, he quickly lowered his arm and leveled the sword at one of the many warriors before him. It wasn't more than an instant later, that there was blood in the air, and the great genocide had begun.

Momentarily mesmerized by the bloodshed, the character named Feng Xiao Xiao had completely forgotten where she was or why it was such a bad idea to remain as such. It wasn't until she received a hard shoulder tug from her companion that her mind came back to her. Though she was horrified by the deaths around her, she was scared by an aspect of herself that longed for it, to experience the lifting of lives by her own hand. Pushing that side away from her mind, she followed her partner against the cold rock face as numerous warriors and beasts vaulted from higher levels above them - over their heads - and joined in the fray.

"Feng Xiao Xiao! Don't separate from me!" Zhuo cried out as he tried to hold her hand tighter in his, but the pounding of jostling bodies against them threatened to break them apart.

"I—I can't hold on!" Xiao Lan cried out in a panicked voice as she was torn away from her only source of security, jostled along with the many bodies until she came to a stop that threw her forward into a clearing. It was odd that there should be anything but stampeding fighters, but it wasn't until she looked to the ground that she knew why. Beneath her slender fingers was a ground saturated with the blood of many that had been there before. Only the bodies of the few Hardcore game characters remained, while the others slowly erased to where they could be restored by the game servers later.

Horror-struck and uncertain, she looked up just as one of the rampaging fighters was torn asunder before her, a crimson blade jutting through what used to be the chest of a man—just before it was wrench free with a torrent of blood spraying against her. In the distance she felt as though she could hear her name being called again and again, but could not turn her head away from the man in the black armor now streaked with red lines across its entirety. And with her barely raised upon her knees and cowering before him, was there any hope that she could break away?

Although the game was running at normal speed, it seemed like the reality lagged as he strode forward, clearly acknowledging her eyes with his own—a predator with his prey before him captivated by his menace yet powerless against it. It was truly a primal fear he evoke about him, and had she had hold of her senses she might have felt a tinge of jealousy.

"You." He addressed her simply with neither malice nor disrespect. "Such a den of wolves is no place for a timid doe, nor is it worthwhile for me to deprive you of your life." He placed the tip of his blade beneath her chin and tilted her head up so he could see her face. "You have good eyes… but they are not eyes meant for battle. Earn that, and then come back to me. Fight me!" He smiled as he withdrew the sword and used it to decapitate a passerby. His eyes bore into hers, and she felt as though her soul had been branded.

His smile faded slightly as reality seemed to return to real-time with the battle fully raging. "Fight me… or fear me completely—never to show your face again before me. Your choice."

"Feng Xiao Xiao!" Zhuo finally broke through the ranks and stabilized her sides, freezing as he realized who it was before them. "Abandon's Guardian…"

"Beast." He said simply. "Take her from here, and do not return. For this is not your place at all. Do that… and send me the strong you encounter." He lifted the blade a moment in their direction. "Or die here."

Zhuo's eyes narrowed as he focused on the bloody blade. He knew there were fewer enemies around them and the path had opened. It was enough for tonight.

"We shall take our leave."

With that, Zhuo gathered his partner into his arms and dashed into the openings between battles, as the Black Guardian of Hell's Abandon returned to the fray.

_Feng Xiao Xiao…_ he thought to himself. _I'll remember you. _

*****

Two months later, the infamous Guardian found himself with fewer and lesser opponents as those that frequented the game "World" moved on to the newer "Second Life". With more reality and better game play of real life, it was by far the better game from the things he heard in the real world. Besides, it seemed life here had become too repetitive. However, there was one problem.

Over the systems message, as the only true infamous player, he had gained such a negative reputation that there were already many warrior guilds within Second Life that had sent him a warming. Should he enter they would make it their only mission to make sure that he never had a chance to advance to the next level, by hunting him down before he could set foot out of whatever town he appeared in.

But all the same, he couldn't let that stop his intrigue. He would enter Second Life and find the better players, and he would build his fear just as he had here.

It was on that night, the Guardian announced that the throne of Abandon was empty. He was moving on, and his destination was Second Life.

Coincidentally, it was the very night that Prince and Gui first met (which promptly resulted in Gui's death by Prince's hand).


	2. Rebirth

Chapter 2: **Rebirth**

Location: Real World

Stripped of his armor and his "World" game image, the young 23 year old man Chung Chao Cheng was a person very much in a mess. Already he had renounced his throne in "World", but the threat of character discovery in his newly purchased copy of Second Life was pretty much assured. After all, he couldn't possibly bring himself to accept his character as anything other than human, as it was against his nature for taking a fantasy character, and as his natural severity was too heavily carried over it made him little different from how he was now.

True enough, with his piercing eyes, chiseled features, and low hung hair, he cast the very aura of evil that provided a dead giveaway. In "World" he was almost fully encased in armor and the game form wasn't as close as in reality, but in "Second Life", with a reality rating of 99.9%, it was impossible to go unnoticed. But even still, he wanted to play. Perhaps at the very least, he could find those willing to partner with him to override his dilemma?

No… even that was asking the impossible. It was very doubtful that there would be any group as foolish or honest to admit him. He was stuck.

Before thought could hope to consume him further—and his apprehension sired weakness—he resolved to whatever fate cast upon him and drifted into sleep, the game headset firmly in place and the game running.

Nearly as instantaneous his onset of sleep was the onset of darkness that rushed to greet his conscious. He thought that it was no doubt the loading sequence for new players, which probably freaked many into thinking that something was wrong. But for him, nestled in the darkness, he felt like he had returned to the throne room of Hell's Abandon. It was a nostalgic feeling.

And then it was over.

Before him in this vast wall-less grid chamber was an infinite realm devoid of anything notable save for one rather over-sized chair and a person seated in it.

"Hello!" said the small girl jubilantly in welcome. "Welcome to Second Life!"

"Ah." Chao Cheng responded. He didn't know what to say. Was this an actual person or what?

"Haha," she laughed, "that's about a typical response for first timers.

"In just a moment I will have you scanned and your data will be inputted within the system. From there we will be able to design your character. It is important that you choose carefully, as this will be the only character you'll ever create."

"Ah," he said to the girl again, he guessed she was a GM then? "I'm aware of it, I already read up on the website."

"That's great!" She smiled broadly and inputted a few commands silently into her helmet command module. At once several scanning machines began to scan him and dissect his virtual information. "Okay! Scanning is complete! And here are the characters!"

At once, the limitless void within the chamber was filled with many possibilities from practical to absurd. Obvious choices like humans, elves, night creatures, beasts, evil spirits, dwarves, demons, and other things. He even saw things like trees. She was about to speak again when he waved her off.

"Can I see myself as a human player?"

"Of course!"

With that, the screen was cleared of the other possibilities and left with was very much his exact replica, although more rugged and muscularly built. He looked even more formidable as he did evil.

"Wow!" The GM exclaimed. "I apologize, but you look scary enough to already be at level 30! It's giving me Goosebumps!"

Chao Cheng shot her a look, but she was absolutely right. This character was no good after all. The guilds would recognize him in an instant.

"Tch! This isn't good at all!" He exclaimed in aggravation, shocking his company into silence. He looked to her and narrowed his eyes. "Is there anyway to make the character look different? Maybe, weaker or changed facially?"

"Different or changed?" she said in a cowering manner. "That would be very difficult to achieve as the scans have shaped everything based on your actual appearance. You could try a different race? Or there is an option to uglify or beautify yourself by 30%."

He sighed. Would he have to resort to another race after all? That would crush his pride more than remaining at level 1 for the rest of his duration in Second Life. If only his character could be manipulated outside the rules, make his eyes and face softer, less intense… he looked at the girl again. Like… her face? No, like a girl.

"I…" he said hesitantly, "have a bit of a difficult request."

"Yes?" she asked.

"Can I see myself as a girl?"

"Eh?" she sounded in a stunned manner. She was looking at him in an uncertain manner.

"It's no good?"

She was silent a moment as she was putting the question forward to obvious company contacts. It was quite obvious that she was hearing something remarkable as her facial expressions were anything but placid.

"Eh!" She uttered suddenly. She looked up with a kind of perplexed look. "Ah, that is… I thought it was an impossible request but the heads have just informed me that there was a similar gender swap request nearly a month ago, but going the other way. Since that character happens to be rather successful in his own right, the heads have decided to award you with a re-write option. However, if you see yourself as the other gender, you won't be able to change back.

"Do you wish to proceed?"

Someone… had swapped genders before? Then he'd be the second case… and in the other sense. But if it didn't work….

"It's fine." He said with his teeth clenched. "Let me see myself as a girl!"

The GM blushed and raised her arm. "Very well!"

At once, the image of the rugged warrior shimmered in light as the image reformed, limbs growing more slender, hips and waist becoming smaller, chest losing its hardness and gaining two slight curves beneath the cloth armor. The face grew thinner and the chin and nose less sharp with more entailed soft features that replaced the rugged look by something much more timid. Lastly, the eyes kept their edge that was unique to him, but became something less along the lines of evil and more a level of seduction, framed well by the long hair that extended to the waist.

Although plain and normal, Chao Cheng was slowly beginning to see possibility with the new form.

"U-um… Beautify or uglify?" Asked a very embarrassed GM.

"Heck, since I can't take it back now," said Chao Cheng with a dark smile, "let's pretty her up." In that instant the form changed to a better look with nearly no attachment to his real life presence, something that he finally found a reason to smile about. "That… is certainly a thing of beauty, like an angel…"

"Okay." The GM stated softly. "Let's run through the finer character settings first, and then we'll give you a name and then you can go play!"

*****

After a little inputting, they were at the final details.

"Name?"

Chao Cheng paused, what he had said before… what was it? Ah. "How about… Angel."

"Very well, character Angel, and your birth point?" She paused for a second as silent commands were coming through her helmet. "I've just been informed that of the five areas, Central is off limits, as too much overlap with the other transgender player will be too taxing on the servers. So which of the directions would you like?"

"I'll go with the East. That should be a good place to start." He looked at his new character form. Weak but beautiful, there wasn't a chance he would be spotted by the guilds now. Although, learning to play as a different gender might be the real challenge itself. However it worked, it would start in the East.

"Okay, then you are all set to go!" The GM looked at him with a funny expression. "If I played the game, I think you'd be very interesting to tag along with, good luck! Player Angel, I send you off to be born!"

Before her sentence was complete, the body of Chao Cheng began to tremble as his feet were displaced and the image of his new character flowed into his body, causing a burning feeling to overtake him, just before the darkness from before, claimed him once again.

*****

When the light of the world had begun to creep into Chao Cheng's eyes, feeling had begun to return as well. Gone was a tense feeling in his upper chest and arms, and his body felt lighter than he had in years, as though he were a boy again… though, the stiffness that had accumulated in his hands was gone, and a tender feeling replaced it. And, the lightness that he had felt before was less the feeling of youth, but the lack of hard muscle. His hands… fingers… were slender.

At night he had closed his eyes as Chao Cheng, but in this day of Second Life, he opened them as someone else entirely. Thinking about it logically, the mouth formed a smile, and a soft laugh graced the air as the crouching figure had come to her first revelation. The male Chao Cheng was a daytime illusion, for now, Second Life's female Angel had been born!


	3. In Preparation for Battle

Chapter 3: **In Preparation for Battle**

Angel smiled as a new feeling overcame her. She truly was a girl! She could feel it as though it was a real body, and it was so peculiar too… it was completely different with movements and flexibility, easily allowing her to move from a crouch to a vertical position. She had to wonder if the increase in speed was reflective on the real life data that had been incorporated into this form. Well, there was a way to check.

"Profile!" She declared in her very different voice. It was surprising that it had come from her at all. She would have to experiment with the changes to make sure her obvious surprise didn't attract unwanted attention. However, unnoticed by her was that her natural beauty had already started to attract looks and gazes despite her effort.

Oblivious to anyone else, she smiled as her profile screen appeared before her, displaying her various stats and information. Indeed, her speed was innately higher than male characters; she could see why some girls took that agility to the next level by becoming thieves. But what would suit her best? It was a stretch to think she would wield a blade, but if it came down to that, perhaps it was possible. But better yet would be to disassociate with anything that could possibly expose her true identity.

Well, all that was well and good for later exploration. For now she had to start gathering some experience, or she would never figure out the next step. And with nothing more than her clothing and body, there was nothing to fight monsters with.

She frowned. The warrior that was the male mind of Chao Cheng thought logic only demanded something of a knife or a dagger come included with the character, but that was only the set for a male character, or they relied on their strength? It was confusing but exciting. After all, as a female character, the infamous Chao Cheng only existed as shadow, but it was the same mind that commanded the body. The body however, was completely beyond what he had been used to for 23 years.

She flexed her fingers a few times by slowly curling them in and spreading them out, and the arms seemed limber enough to support desired movements. There was no reason that a female body should differ so much compared to a male's. As long as it followed the mind's orders, and moved accordingly, then what's the problem?

Making up his/her mind at last, the character Angel set off for the forests just beyond the town's gates, where the lesser monsters were always supposed to be for a beginner's start. Although apprehensive of discovery at first, she quickly became comfortable that by her feminine appearance alone she would escape detection with relative ease. But though the thought was that, she couldn't help but feel like there were eyes that followed her every movement. If it was just because of a pretty girl, she wasn't that much more so than some of the other girls in the area. Was there something else?

Pushing all arbitrary thoughts to the side, she soon began her decent from the outer steppes of the city and into the forest region below. It was slightly odd… this forest. Although a normal starter town resembled a typical RPG settlement, with cobblestone streets, thatched roofs and peasantry atmosphere, the forest environment that should have come off as rolling green hills and simple wandering slimes or lesser monsters idling in the well-lit environment, was very much the opposite here. The town itself had been very different, reminiscent of eastern architecture, she felt as though she had just stepped beyond the gates of an imperial city, with its graceful temples high stone walls and uniform stone streets. The forest—this forest she was in now—was also beyond what a level 1 player would see, as it was much darker than anything World had.

True enough to her thoughts, besides the poor light quality, the nature of it was very eerie and almost… dangerous? As the last glimpse of corner wall of the city slid from her sight, she began to feel an unparalleled sense of dread. Certainly this wasn't the right set up, and it was far too late to turn back now. She knew. Even if she didn't see the monsters at present, she had her instincts and they were blaring. She was hopelessly trapped here. This place here was definitely not one where someone without a single weapon should be.

After sliding down an embankment, pushing against the jutting branches, feeling the softness of the ground beneath her, touching the plants and gathering a sense of awareness for the other subtle feelings the dank woods carried, she confirmed that the reality rate was really as superb as they claimed it to be. And if the environment was real enough to that extent, then the ability to use it should be equal to that.

If it was like this…

If it was like this, then she could use it!

At that thought, she seized the more restricting pieces of her garment, and tore a strip free, spread it on the ground before her and filled it with some dry dirt and pebbles. Again, she repeated this, and loosely bundled the sacks and put them in her pocket. Rising to her feet, she went over to a tree that appeared to be of a sound wood that was of about the right consistency of density and weight. Strong and light… the perfect combination she needed. After finding the right slightly-dead branch, thin at the end and thick at the base, she broke it free.

Utilizing an outcropping of rocks, she grinded the base into something sharper, while keeping the length at something likened to a staff. A quick test twirl around her like a bo-staff revealed that the weight and handling was good enough. This was good… her offense was good. But now, it was time to finish this.

*****

Completely separate from the forest, the trail to the city that wound its way past Angel's location was much higher than the low reaches of the black woods. Since this particular city was at a much higher elevation than the playing areas, it was a good place to come to in order to judge the progress of your fellow adventurers. And like the city, the elevated path was equally as good, and generally monster free, although the climb to town after a hard session of monster killing was generally a grueling experience.

Certainly no strangers to this tedious existence, the various members of the team, Menace, were in a general state of frustration over the long trek back from their latest adventure. It truly seemed that their only joy in the climb was the action they saw along the way in the various adventurers who try to solo these woods. More often than not it was a grisly end.

Although the game Second Life was infinitely better than any other game on the market, no game was completely without problems or error. While the central playing area seemed to carry most of the active gamers and was thus free from error, the fringe lands—as they called the cardinal directions North, East, West, South—seemed to be suffering from the effects of system glitches and an unknown starting error. While these errors were nothing particularly malicious or negative against long time players, those just starting out found themselves in a world of pain and confusion.

For whatever the reason, the newer players were being born in one of the intermediate cities, and away from the easy leveling areas like those of East Continent's west coast. But in any respect, it shouldn't matter where one is born, only that due to whatever recent errors, the lesser level monsters had ceased to exist in the nearby proximity as the city had been altered to include only one entrance. Known as the Azure Dragon, the East Continent's most eastern city, this city was by far one of the best areas to gather before engaging in 'C' ranked missions and above, and one didn't have to go far into the nearby mountain range to fulfill them. But while that was fine for the already experienced, the newer players were exposed to far greater starting difficulties until the system was corrected.

Knowing this full well, the various members of Menace had allied early on in their levels, and worked as a group to gain their experience. They knew that while this just happened to be temporary at best, the lands immediately around the town had been altered to include more difficult terrain and higher level monsters closer, while maintaining lesser environments and lower level monsters and animals far into the countryside. Although there was a system notice to all new players in the form of a memo, recent game alterations had destroyed even those. Even if players did get them, they usually couldn't make it far enough into the distant playing areas to level, which made it very discouraging. Already today, Menace had watched many new players in the game end in tragic defeat.

"Aaaaaahhh, so tired!" exclaimed one of Menace's younger members, an obvious early teenager as an evil spirit, with beginner-class armor. His boyish face displayed an indignant look of irritation. "So many newbies getting crunched out there today! Getting in my way!"

One of the other members, a strong and brutish human chuckled with laughter. "What's wrong, Whisper? Irritated that I had to save your hide too many times?"

"Shut it, Braun!" Whisper retorted. "You may be a Berserker class, but you've only just started! You aren't anything special yet!"

"What d'ya say?" Braun flared.

"Idiots. Bickering like children." Murmured a frightening figure of a man—that was not a man, but a demon—with very human looking features, save for a shadowy translucent appearance and yellow pupils. "Don't make me resort to cursing the both of you."

"Oh? The Soul-binder speaks!" Whisper spat back. "Don't get too high on your horse yet, either, you low-level curse thrower!"

"Whisper!" A voice sounded as a hand grabbed Whisper's shoulder. "Don't bug Dusk too much, unlike Braun, he doesn't forgive easily." The figure turned to Braun. "Don't let this brat rile you either. I know we're all tired."

"Who's tired?" Whisper said softly as he pulled himself free. "I just wanted to express myself and people try to raise my ire."

"The only one who ever cared for your ire is yourself." Sighed the elf that had restrained him previously. "Why can't you be more relaxed, like Sorrow there?" He motioned to the silent dark elf behind him.

"Oh please," Sorrow stated in a voice that lacked emotion. "Don't point Whisper's ire in my direction, Renegade."

"My apologies, my friend." Renegade said with seriousness, just before a mischievous smile crept across his face. "By all means, if he points that worthless emotion in your direction, simply point something back in his!"

"I will." Sorrow said flatly as he leveled two notched arrows in the direction of Whisper and Braun. "Should these two bicker further, I will give them reason to feel my name."

Whisper swallowed as he began to back towards the path's edge, stopping prematurely as he felt the unevenness which signified his feet on the very edge. His hands were up in a submissive gesture as he glanced back to make sure his next movement wouldn't be in a vertical direction.

Then he stopped.

"Eh?" Ignoring Sorrow's threat, he turned around and looked into the woods. "What's that?"

Curious, Braun came up beside him and peered into the same direction. "That? That would be the member of the opposite sex." He looked at Whisper and smiled broadly. "We call them 'girls'."

"That's not what I meant!" He looked up to Renegade. "I didn't think there were Amazon classes?"

"There aren't." He replied with a smiled. "Most likely… she did that herself."

As to what and who, Whisper had noticed Angel just after her final preparations had finished. Yet instead of seeing her as she had been when born, complete with a beginner's tunic and minor cloth armor, she had taken it upon herself to change her appearance completely.

Now, instead of the boring and semi-protective cloth mesh she had been given before, she had repeatedly torn away strips of cloth and modified the wear with heavy pieces of bark and sticks from the hardwoods of before. With little left of the tunic but ragged shorts and something that resembled a sports bra, Angel was fully decked out in self-made armor, cushioned by soft leafs between the plate-like sections of bark and her skin, and tied to her with a network of cloth and stick fasteners, she was completely protected and equipped with armor on her forearms, upper arms, shoulder, thighs, calves, feet, and even a head piece that made her look more intimidating. With only her stomach and chest left without hindrance, and her long hair gathered into a long ponytail, she looked everything like an Amazon warrior would.

However, as ready as she appeared for battle now, she wasn't moving. Rather, she was perfectly still. As though she was waiting.

"Ahahaha!" laughed Whisper while pointing. "Just what is with that get up? What level is that??

"Wait a second… do you see her weapon? That isn't game spawned, she made that herself! Although, even level 2's have some kind of killing instrument. What happened to her?"

Renegade made a small noise of agreement with his own mental deduction as he smiled in a satisfied manner. "She… that girl… is only a first level."

"She just started!!" Whisper exclaimed.

"Still…" Braun trailed off in admiration. An ordinary level 1 would have blundered into a higher level monster and been killed off by now. Given that she had time to make her outfit, not only had she sensed the level of danger within the forest, but had avoided it until now. That signified a significant fighting sense.

"How unnatural… for a level 1."

"Unnatural or not, she's dead! Level 1's haven't got a prayer in these woods, especially alone."

Sorrow notched an arrow and started to point it at the woods ahead of her. "Should we back her up, or let her die?"

Renegade shook his head.

"It's too late for that. Assuming she didn't get the memo, she was out of luck from the beginning. But even so… something about her has caught my interest."

"Then we'll just watch?"

"We'll just watch. Besides…" Renegade said with a mysterious expression. "It looks like the show is about to begin!"

With all eyes of Menace upon her, the woods began to shudder.

Angel's debut battle of Second Life was about to begin!


	4. Induction

Chapter 4: **Induction**

Angel looked to the section of woods just before her as something began to stir. She figured it'd be one of the monsters she had been tracking while she was fashioning her armor, but even the signs of it didn't indicate what manner of creature it could be. With the way this game was already, she was certain it wasn't anything normal.

It was definitely a strange game, even though the reality interaction level was as high as they said, the game aspect was certainly prevalent, and with so many different attributes! She must have leveled four times in the ingenuity factor of her character, gained tracking as a side attribute, leveled in evasion when she didn't even receive an attack, and all sorts of weird things. However, as luck would have it, she already uncovered an amulet and ring from her habit of moving things that were loose. Both seemed to give +3 to her agility attribute, and even one gave her more HP. It was too bad she didn't find a weapon as well, but she felt that it might be beyond her level anyway.

As it was, it seemed she didn't have the time to dwell on such thoughts, as whatever was before her was getting impatient with her previous evasive maneuvers. At once—even before she could get another thought in—the foliage at the border of the forest was reduced to mere splinters as her first nemesis burst into the light. A creature that made her retreat to some lower branches of a nearby tree at just a glimpse of it—as it was that terrifying a monster.

For the heightened level of realism within the game, it certainly didn't apply to its creatures, for this was nothing like a real animal. Walking on its hind legs, its back was covered in jagged crystals and its sides coated with smoother crystal armor. Although humanoid it wasn't, it had long arms that ended with formidable talons and were protected with a metallic-scaling that looked as tough as the crystals. Its head, much like that of an armadillo with a much larger mouth filled with fangs, was certainly nothing she wanted to get near. Though its walking legs were big and made it slow, it seemed as though it could easily strike with great speed. Unfortunately for her, it seemed its only weakness was its soft-looking stomach-chest region, and maybe its neck. Regrettably, nearing the weakness meant putting herself in a close proximity to its talons and fangs.

This was most definitely not a monster a level 1 should have to fight! But with a weaker body, and a formidable opponent, wasn't that the point of leaving World? Surely as the Guardian of Hell's Abandon, Chao Cheng would have welcomed this—did it make any difference that he was a different person by the name of Angel?

She smiled, just as she readied her weapon and edged forward on her momentary perch.

***

From the trail and her gallery of spectators, Renegade whistled in surprise at the scene unfolding.

"Ha!" He laughed sharply. "A Razorback! Already! This game is definitely messed up in this area… to think that a level 40 monster would appear so close to town is absurd!" He looked at his teammates and saw they were enthralled as well; it was even more amusing that Whisper was biting his lip in anticipation.

"A level 1 vs. a level 40 monster?" Braun mused. "Razorbacks are known for their ambush abilities primarily, as they can strike without warning at passing parties. That she has led it into the open is a good first step, but that weapon of hers might not be able to do anything to it other than scrape it up on its underside." He looked at his axe with longing. "Even my axe is barely good enough to stop the level 25 monsters in the countryside we've been after."

"The impossible wall… that's what this scenario comes down to. When it's like this, there is only one way over it." Sorrow thought aloud. "I'm afraid I have yet to see such a level difference favor the weaker."

"Yet it is possible." Stated Renegade calmly. "Just not typical. Well, let's just watch to see how far she gets. If nothing else we can take the weakened monster for our own gain later."

***

Without further thought to the numerous battle scenarios she had planned out in a moment, Angel leapt forward as she hoped to discover the capabilities of this impossible threat before her. Utilizing her heightened agility and speed, she touched on the boundary of what she thought was the immediate strike area.

Sure enough, just as she set her foot within her expectant radius, the creature lunged forward, its sharp talons bared and its jaws open—but achieved nothing as its claws plunged into the unoccupied ground and its jaws snapping close with the resounding echo like that of a gun shot. However, instead of taking immediate advantage of its new radius of attack and changing its direction to continue its attack on her, it stopped, pulled its claws from the dirt, and returned to its previous stance.

Curious, Angel closed the distance once again, touching upon the strike radius, and fleeing before the attack was set off. It was the exact same.

She tried again, and again the strike was repeated.

She smiled as the wind generated from her hasty retreat blew through her hair and against her bare skin. This monster wasn't the smart kind. Instead of battling, it solely relied on striking and its speed. Even though it was undoubtedly a higher level monster, it was probably really easy to take out by even somebody half its level. Unfortunately for her, she was no where near the halfway point. She could tell that already. Also, she was tiring faster than was helpful. It was definitely true… that low levels were really bad off.

She frowned. It was good that she had discovered the monster's pattern, but she couldn't just run forever—although she was certain she heard the game tell her that she was gaining minor attributes again all over—and the fact that the creature's claws stuck did give a momentary slowing of movements, but the armor on the arms still protected the weak spots elsewhere.

She had no other choice than bringing the fight as close as she could to the source. Although she was certain that even one glancing blow would be enough to reduce her Hit Points to zero. It was risky business, but she felt that the road to victory rested in the claws. Besides, her stamina was dying quickly, and she was already beginning to discover that the realism added the need to consume food and water as part of the game as well.

No choice, she just had to go with it!

With her feet touching firmly within the radius, she dodged the incoming strike and stayed wary of the teeth and sharp crystal spines as she sidled up to the monster, braced her feet and swung the blunt edge of her improvised weapon forward. What followed soon after was a sickening crack as it smashed into its face, but with more damage to her weapon than the creature itself.

Sensing the time was near that its claws would be withdrawn, she took a parting stab at the stomach area before she rolled out of the strike radius, certain that the whistling above her head was that of the claws as they swept towards where her head used to be just moments before she ducked. A frustrated roar of the monster followed that sent shivers down her spine.

A quick instinctive notion made her turn her eyes to the darker part of the forest, but was relieved when they looked as still as they had been. Even so, she felt that her time to end this just shortened considerably.

***

"Hmmm… not bad. She's not doing badly at all." Braun said, complimenting her and her progress. "Still alive, still healthy. She's completely unlike a lower level, yet completely one."

"I know what you mean." Renegade said in agreement. "It's just too bad that her time to make any progress has been lessened. With that roar of anger, soon other Razorbacks will make their way here—possibly even higher levels. At least with one there's a chance. But once the mob shows up, then it's over for sure."

"Che…" Whisper uttered in annoyance. "What are you guys going on about still? You keep talking like she has a chance when you know it's futile effort." He spat bitterly. "I don't even get why you so much as entertain a possibility when you know it doesn't exist!"

"And why is that?" Renegade asked calmly. "Why do you think that way?"

"Because she's only a level 1!! There's nothing else to say about it!"

"That's why you're still just a kid." Braun stated softly. Whisper looked like he was going to blow up before Renegade silenced them both with a neutral gesture.

"Whisper, what's the requirement for death?" Renegade asked.

"Death?" Whisper thought for a moment. "When you lose all your Hit Points in battle."

"And how do you lose those?"

"You take damage, physical, magical, or elemental. Sometimes you may be poisoned or cursed into it." He shot a glance at Dusk, who said nothing.

Renegade put a hand on Whisper's shoulder. "That's right. That's common knowledge, right? But, even a lower level won't die so long as they keep themselves out of harm's way. Therefore, if a talented enough level 1 player were to take on a level 100 enemy, yet took no damage, so long as his damage dealt was enough to overcome regeneration or defense of the opponent, he could win even if it took him an entire week of fighting, just so long as he kept his health. That's what we're hoping to see here today. Whether or not she can beat probability and keep her health enough to defeat her adversary."

He smiled and released Whisper's shoulder. "That's something to look forward to, right?"

Whisper thought about it for a moment, uncertain how to respond. "Yeah."

***

On the offensive once again, Angel charged into the strike radius of her foe, only to dodge the fatal attack once more and land another blow on a softer spot, but the damage she was doing was ridiculously small… only a few points here or there.

What she was doing now, and had been trying to instigate before was merely testing the capabilities of the creature, but now that information was noted and she was confident that it would not pull surprises. It was regrettable that the mere action of testing the creature had winded her so. Though a frontal attack now would be more than devastating, there was no longer any sense in delaying it. She only could go for it.

Whether that action of going for it now came as her advantage, or turned disastrous, she was otherwise out of options. With nothing more than paper armor, a broken weapon, and a waiting improvisation, this was nearing the closing for her first effort. All in all, it wasn't a bad induction to the Second Life world…

However, it was time to initiate her first and final true attack. It was time to test her new body to its absolute limits.

And most of all, it was time to clear the wall of impossibility before her, or die trying.

With one more final cry of determination, she abandoned any last remaining shred of doubt or hesitation, and rushed straight into the maw of death.

********

A/N (5/14/2009): This was originally going to be longer and such, but I'm trying to avoid writing too long or I'll feel like I have to write that long each time, so better to keep the flow of releases going. Thanks to everyone enjoying this so far. There should be a glimpse of Prince in the next chapter, and then the focus will switch back to him (Just in case anyone thought I had abandoned him).


	5. Allies of Convenience: Part I

Chapter 5: **Allies of Convenience: Part I**

-Several months before-

In a familiar landscape within the system of World, like a scar on the earth, the canyon where the warriors gathered, the various settlements were on fire, and burned with such ferocity that the glow from above looked as though the very land was bleeding. Despite the fact that the smoke was dark and the scene was at night, the heavy black clouds of smoke could still be seen before the cruel moon that was otherwise choked from existence. As it was anyway, the light of the moon was nothing more than the peeking eye of the heavens. The very heavens that had no claim over the section of Hell that had been unleashed in the chasm.

Originally, set as the location of an endless melee for the purpose of experience gathering, skill testing, and watchful entertainment from the sides, it now—as it had for a week already—existed as a place under siege. Though the cause was mainly believed to be due to an unfair level of creatures that had already kill many of the players, the true cause seemed to rest on thoughts of dominion and territory. However, though the teams within the canyon had worked together so far, even they knew that once liberated, there could only be one place holder. For that was all the game allowed for.

Nevertheless, as though concern for the game scenario was lacking completely, the fires still rained down from above and held the sides, as those from the outside of the battle were just as isolated as those on the interior. However, while those on the outside could only watch as the game system and its monstrous NPC holders were systematically eliminated; those on the canyon floor were directly placed on the frontlines. And it was on those very frontlines that the liberator's army had finally defeated the last of the computer threats.

The siege had just ended!

And as the crowds of the wounded and burnt survivors began to cheer, the strongest of their ranks still lingered within the now empty thrown room set in the canyon's wall just beyond a broken skull rock. These three, who had been untied with a common goal now stood silent in front of the now vacant throne. The monster that had been upon it until just then had already dissolved away, leaving behind a system notice.

"Congratulations, noble players, you have now defeated the last boss of the Warrior's Ravine. But know that the throne can neither stay empty, nor can the number of players upon the floor number more than their opponents for more than…"

The warrior reading the notice fell silent as he began to understand it.

"Chao Cheng?" asked one of the three, who was standing behind the kneeling warrior. "What's wrong?"

"This system…" The player Chao Cheng trailed off. He crumbled the notice as his hand tightened in anger.

"Chao?"

"Tch!" Chao Cheng sounded in annoyance as he stood up and stared out the chamber, and then back to the outside, where the flames cast eerie dancing shadows upon the wall. "The throne will not say empty nor will our opponents stay defeated! It's saying that everything we've just fought for will end if the throne isn't filled within the next half hour!"

"What!?" The other warrior shouted angrily. "Then our efforts?"

"For naught…" Chao Cheng clenched his teeth together. More or less, if the throne wasn't reclaimed by an independent player within a set time, everything they've destroyed will be reset, and the boss as well as the minions regenerated. In their weakened state, they'd be crushed in an instant.

"What are we going to do!?" Shouted the one warrior.

"Anyways, don't panic!" replied the third of the group as Chao Cheng lowered his eyes to the system notice. "Assemble the heads together! We may be able to strategize and form a solution before the time is up! We've come this far, there is no reason to be defeated now!"

"I… agree." Stated Chao Cheng in a hollowed voice. He let the notice fall as his other hand grasped the hilt of his sheathed broadsword.

"Eh? With what part?"

Chao Cheng didn't look up; he merely stood motionless in the flickering light. "I…" His fingers tightened on his sword as his muscles tensed within his arm. "I agree that we won't be defeated. Or at least… I won't be."

Without another word, and a flash of his sword, the panicked warrior's head fell from his neck, just moments before his body disappeared in a flash of light. However, before his sword could do the same to the third, there was an explosion of sparks as the two warriors' swords met.

"Chao Cheng! You bastard!" Shouted his opponent as he cried out in fear and surprised over the blatant betrayal. "It can't be… this is your answer to the notice??"

Chao Cheng stayed silent for a moment as he attempted to over-power his opponent but feeling the fatigue of battle creeping in relaxed his arm to give the appearance of weakness as he attempted to find words.

"Answer me!" Bellowed the other as the blades momentarily parted before he redirected all of his anger and rage into the next blow. There were more sparks, and the two pushed their way out of the throne room and onto the narrow strip of raised earth before the room. At their arrival, many of the soldiers that had been celebrating fell quiet as they attempted to make sense of the drama unfolding before them.

Chao Cheng ground his back teeth together. "Regrettably."

"HA!" The other warrior struck with an upward slash that glanced off Chao's armor. "'Regrettably'!?" There was another shower of sparks and clash of metal as they collided their armored bodies together as they followed the momentum of their swords forward. "What do you mean by that? Weren't we a team!?"

This time the sword was parried and the strike came around the other way, but to no avail.

"A team… is it?" Chao Cheng questioned. "'Allies of Convenience'—wasn't that the title used? Unfortunately, the game has decided that union's convenience didn't suit it! Even I would have liked the union to have remained strong… but this is the only thing that will work now." He closed his eyes a moment as he summoned his resolved. "As of now, your usefulness has been realized!"

With a howl of determination, Chao Cheng twisted his blade in one swoop of fury, and severed the warrior's arm from his body.

Behind them, sounds of outcry and fear and general alarm ran through the spectators. But he could care less. In a moment, he would have to deal with them just as well, but before him now, his 'ally' was still conscious, holding the wound with his remaining hand.

"Tell me something… what will you do now? What will become of the Warrior's Ravine from today onward?"

"I will take the throne… but it will not remain as the throne of the Warrior's Ravine." He stated with an air of dignity about him. "Because the game has put us through Hell, it is Hell that will be remembered here. Thus those evil and nefarious warriors that come here hence forward will be like those of Hell's abandoned children squabbling over one another. And I will be its Guardian, to keep this place free from the corruption of the game system."

"Ha…" laughed the other warrior once as the light started to fade from his eyes. "The Guardian… of Hell's Abandon…

"How… fitting…."

Chao Cheng watched as the man keeled over, and then proceeded to end him with a finishing blow, before he turned towards the now fleeing spectators. After all, he only had ten minutes. And then, he'd be the only lingering survivor of this Hell.

And here he would live in infamy… until it was his turn to lie bleeding in death.

*****

-In the present-

With the memory of the christening of Hell's Abandon still fresh as an accomplishment, the most infamous warrior of World wouldn't let the hardships of the past slip just because of a new body and level! And with the fighting urge thick in her battle cry, Angel was determined to do everything to make herself known on this newest field of war, no matter the opposition, no matter the disadvantage. After all, with this enemy before her, there was little left to figure out.

With the distance between them quickly narrowing, Angel began to brace herself for what came next, because this time, she wasn't running! This time, instead of retreating once within the strike range, she feigned a forward attack, only to switch it up at the last possible moment, and sprung low, forcing her acceleration into a quick burst of speed.

However, instead of dodging the strike by going to the side, she dove beneath the long, out-stretched arms of the beast before her and rolled clear of the fanged mouth just as its teeth seized her shoulder guard, and splintered it in an instant. Now, with its mouth full and its claws buried, she took the opening and thrust the sharpened end of her weapon right into the soft flesh of its stomach. There, the point of her weapon found purchase with the flesh and started to plunge into the tissues, when it stopped just as suddenly, and broke off.

"Tch!" Angel sounded in annoyance as her mind finally came across the greater truth. The creature's fleshy and soft looking stomach was only so on the immediate surface, it never occurred to her that its bone structure within was just beneath its skin. That and its tough sinewy flesh was enough to stop her weapon's inadequate strength. Equally unfortunate, the now enraged monster wasted no time in extracting its claws, putting her within its immediate presence and weaponless.

But it wouldn't end like this!

Just as the beast turned to better its attack positioning, she took one of her previously prepared debris packages from her pocket and forcibly unfurled it towards the monster's face, releasing the cloud of dust and small rocks directly into its left eye. Furthermore, as it reared up, she kicked at the nub of her previous weapon still jutting from the creature, lodging it even deeper within its skeletal structure. Without waiting for the response, she quickly scampered to the outside of its strike area, nearly deafened in the process from its cries of agony.

She was breathing heavily, but she was unscathed, and visual deductions of Hit Points were appearing beside it as it raked at its eye and midsection with its talons, attempting to free itself of the agony forced upon it but only furthering its injury. Yet, even though she had finally dealt some damage, she had converted the set attack patterns to an unknown by creating an erratic monster. It was a worsening scenario… and she only had one debris packet left, and no weapon.

Hurriedly, Angel looked up to get a better understanding of her new situation with the now calming monster. Although half-blind and bleeding from both its head and stomach, it was more than formidable with all of its offensive strengths still strong. Just as she feared, the distortion in its depth perception caused a wandering target, which in turn raised the uncertainty of a set safe and danger zone. Given the alteration in its form, there was even the possibility that its behavior could shift by some requirement of the system. Unfortunately, it didn't look like it would give her the chance to prepare for it.

Without missing a moment, it sunk its claws on its blinded side into the earth, and used it as an anchor to pull its body forward, its other arm quickly closing the gap between them. Though it was still far enough away to not put her within a strike range, she gasped as it used its attacking claw as another anchor, pulled its past anchor free and pulled forward.

There was no way this made sense! For an ambusher to switch to an attacker using a paddle-arm method? This was unheard of with any creature of World. However, she thought she understood a little when she saw its glowing red eye. Monsters in Second Life had blood lust!

Definitely overwhelmed by this new development, Angel took to the branches of a nearby tree to escape the fury of her attacker, hoping to put some distance between her and the rage until she could regain her bearings. She never thought for a moment that it would be smart enough to attack the tree itself. Unfortunately, for her, nothing in this game was going right.

Before she was even able to right herself, the tree beneath her was ravished by the opponent's attack, showering her with wooden shrapnel and sending her and the remainder of the tree airborne. So overcome by the rapid occurrence of events she wasn't even able to vocalize the expressions of pain that wracked her body, reducing her Hit Points for the first time, as she was flung towards the nearby forest edge.

With the landing just as violent as it could have been, Angel began to fear for the first time. Regrettably, this was the simplest truth to a level 1, the absolute lack in health and inability to protect from serious injury when only even slightly wounded. It was only with the best of fortune that her injuries weren't sustained from the monster itself, as there was no telling what harm its lust had injected into its abilities. But at least for now, there was still some advantage on her side. With the proximity of the forest and narrow openings, she may be able to place enough distance between her and her opponent long enough to figure out an alternate method of attack.

Unfortunately, the immediate panic of the moment and the drive to escape had placed her exactly where she didn't want to be, and it wasn't until she had just slipped into the trees that she had remembered why.

In the next moment, whether from hardened instinct or heightened response or something else, she was moving before she knew why, without a visual reference for where she was going or even why she was going. It just happened too fast to register, but when it was passed her mind registered it for what it was. She slipped into the trees and the woods began to explode around her body, the drive of her will to live gave her enough adrenaline to push back into the open. However, the realization that the foe she had sought escape from was closing, and the terror of the truth had found her, Angel had finally discovered the considerable flaw in her attack efforts.

The mobs had arrived.

******

A/N (5/21/2009): I didn't intend to create the flashback originally, but it became needed for later story reasoning. But it made the story chapter too long... so it had to be split in parts. The second part will be out whenever it is readable. :P Gotta give Chao/Angel something to go on before Prince hogs all the attention.


	6. Allies of Convenience: Part II

Chapter 6: **Allies of Convenience: Part II**

Angel's breath was heavy in her throat as she stared at the fate unraveling before her eyes. With her health decreasing from the various injuries from before, it wasn't likely that she could collect herself in time to get away. Was it a mistake to have entered the game as a woman? Or was it a conspiring of the gods, to deliver her to where the infamous player of World belonged, bleeding in death before the enemies that surrounded her.

Either way it was, she had placed too much faith in her abilities alone.

But even still… to get dismayed wasn't in her character; after all, the worse to happen was she'd be reset as a level 1. If that was it, then there was no reason to give up! With her current position outside the strike radius of the advancing group of monsters—five additional in total—there was only the blood lusting one to worry about. And as it was now, she was positioned right…

It was terrifying, the beast quickly advancing on her position in front while those others were behind her, but it only had one eye while she still had a debris pack. Blind and run—that was the new strategy. If she died, then so what?

With a cold and calculating glare taking over her once-fearful eyes, she took the time and measured the distance from her to it, its strike duration, and its fast advance. If there was a window of opportunity, there wasn't much of one… but even still, her blood-moistened fingers tightened on the last weapon at her disposal. All she needed was one shot. Then the rest was to her agility. She only could hope now…

Angel grimaced as the feeling of numbness crept up her legs—could she really move them? There wasn't an opportunity to think as her body tensed all over and time seemed to move in slow motion as the last anchor set itself just a meter before her. Then the advance came at her in panel motion, the quickened advance of the monster, its armored talon hand poised to strike as it pushed its body forward, the turning of its remaining good eye towards her, and the start of its downward thrust—just as her arm found the strength of movement in itself and unfurled the pouch upward.

And then the stinging darkness as the pouch exploded and the claws impacted… the sound loud and painful.

…

There was a momentary silence as Angel blinked her eyes in disorientation, the debris in her eyes blinding her temporarily. It had exploded early? Then the claws?

She blinkingly looked up through the pain and saw a blurry image of armor not far from her eyes; the claws that had meant to impale her were suspended above her, straining against the air? No—there was something straight and metallic against it. She wiped some of the dust from her eyes and could see the rough outline of a man.

"Really now…" said a voice from the figure before her, "the determination and passion to see it to the end… you don't see much of that in normal players, especially against such impossible odds."

"Who…?" Angel asked meekly.

"Heh." He laughed casually. "Reinforcements? I suppose that's what you could call it."

"Re….inforcements?" She questioned.

"Well, we'll leave it at that for now" He said calmly. "Sorrow! Distraction!"

Angel's eyes cleared just enough for her to make out the figure in front of her as a elf that was clad in low-grade armor and holding the creature at bay with what looked to be a bo or a staff of sorts, one end planted in the ground as a counter force and the other holding the attacking claw in place. Just when she was about to question whether he was of a warrior or mage class, two arrows struck the ground just under the creature and ignited in an upwards torrent of flame and smoke.

Acting much as her dust pouches, the heat and smoke served to blind the creature and caused it to withdraw its claw and backpedal. And that was all that was needed.

Relieved of the pressure against his weapon, the elf before her used the previous force against the claw as a perpetuating momentum that he used to free the base of his weapon, rotate it up and in a flash that was too quick to recognize, severed the hand from its arm. Then—even before the creature could feel its rage—decapitated it just as quickly and mysteriously. The enemy she had struggled so desperately against was downed in an instant.

Almost just as quick as its defeat, she felt a wave of warmth and rejuvenation wash over her as she was awarded experience and advanced to level 2. There were some additional sounds of metal clanking near the deceased body as a pile of gold and some dropped weaponry fell to the ground. The weapon was a belt with two knives sheathed in its compartments.

Not missing a beat, the elf reached down and scooped them up, and turned in Angel's direction.

"Whisper! Catch!" He said loudly as he flung the weapon over her head to the person who had appeared behind her.

"Hmmm… not bad knives." The teen evil spirit behind her said with admiration for his new toys. "I guess level 1's have some use after all… but only in softening the kill. Tch. All that talk of 'impossible walls' and such. What nonsense!" He sounded in annoyance as he fitted the belt and stashed his previous weapons in his inventory.

"Still young." Came a soft but strong voice from nearby. This time it was a strong looking human character with an axe.

"Haaaa?!" Whisper objected, clearly annoyed. "She lost, didn't she?"

"There was still a chance until the others showed." Braun defended.

"Whatever."

The young one known as Whisper drew his new knives and looked over towards the advancing Razorbacks. Then he smiled and looked back towards his human companion. "I bet I get more."

Angel saw the human player smirk, but didn't reply. Even though there was an open challenge, they both seemed to be patiently waiting for a signal of something. Then all of sudden, more arrows, but instead of smoke they let out a cloud of some kind on indiscernible vapor that engulfed the creatures, confusing them but not effecting them otherwise. It wasn't until Angel saw two yellow dots emerging from the nearby darkness of the forest did she understand.

Almost perfectly concealed by the nature of his body, the other player came from behind the creatures and placed his hand against the outer edge of the containing mist. However, what came from his mouth then wasn't that of a magical spell or chant, but that of a single word.

"Deteriorate."

Almost at once there was a visible change that took affect on everything within the mist, as all the grasses and tree branches began to turn of a sickly color and crumble. The creatures too, began to feel the effects as minute cracks began to etch over their armor plates, crystal spikes, and other distinguished body defense, causing even the fangs and claws to lose their edge and break. It was just when Angel thought this command alone would destroy all five of them that the mist cleared. And just like the signal the two from before had been waiting for, they rushed forward with their own styles.

With nearly no form but pure destruction, the human warrior cleaved the first monster in two easily… its fractured body exploding like hot crystal on a cold surface. There was little left of the once impossible monster after just one swing. However, the next monster in the line had recognized the fact that its strike radius had been crossed, resulting in a well-deserved strike forward, than in turn caused the destruction of its own weakened arms at the moment of impact with the earth. This turn of events left the rest of it easy game.

Meanwhile, at the same time, the evil spirit had displayed a level of speed and agility that made him nearly as invisible as the other teammate from before, but in normal air. Just like that of his character name, his two blades made a soft sound as they parted the air, that sounded like whispers in the air. While impressive with his movements, she thought they were mostly for show and not making a bit of progress even against the weakened foe, until the two of them broke apart under their own movements.

However, by the time the two competitors reached the fifth and final monster, their blades and axe met in the middle, and the battle was over.

"Too bad." Came a new voice from afar. Angel looked to see an approaching dark elf with a bow. "Looks like a tie again."

"Tie? How's this a tie? I clearly got more of its body!" Whisper began to object.

"What?!?" Braun began.

Leaving the two to background bickering over which had made more kills, the elf had turned his attention back to the young woman before him. He offered his hand to help her up, but she merely stared.

"Who are you guys?" She didn't mean to be direct, but at the moment she was just too overcome to think of manners. Forget that she was on the ground… right now she just didn't care about much.

"Ah," the elf paused. "Where are my manners? My name is Renegade. I'm the leader of these… players." He nodded his head in the direction of the others behind him. "I think you got most of their names already, but introductions of a personal level can wait until later I think.

"Together, we represent what we hope will be an infamous team in Second Life. The team, Menace."

"I… see…" Angel said distantly. Infamy and acknowledgement were concepts she understood. Saving a beginner player from certain death was one she didn't understand. An infamous team surely didn't become such by performing good deeds.

Renegade saw the way her eyes were set and laughed. "For some reason, I get the feeling you see right through me. I'll get to the point—I watched your skills, they are underdeveloped, but I feel like they could be great in the future."

"And my skills… would be of what use when even I haven't decided on how to employ them?"

"Well, as to that," Renegade smiled, "we did decide it would be convenient to pick up what we're lacking. Preferably a player with area damage to augment our precision strikes. Interested in becoming a mage?"

"Hmmm…" Angel mused thoughtfully. "Allies of Convenience… is it?"

Something about Renegades eyes lit up at that, but he only smiled in response. "If that's what works for you, we can call it that. Your name?" He offered his hand again.

She looked at his hand and told hold of it. "Angel" she said to the point, and then pulled herself up to a standing position. "A soon to become mage, I guess."

Renegade released her hand and the other team members began to gather in. He nodded to her consent of the position with his non-fading smile.

"Well then Angel, welcome to Menace."

*****

-One Month Later-

In the western city of White Tiger, Prince and Kenshin are staring out over the ocean towards the central continent they wish to go to after freeing Sunshine. However, another long and difficult adventure stands between them and that, even with Kenshin's help. After all, Kenshin had said much of the same before during their meeting with Sunshine.

Not wanting to get too nostalgic about returning to his friends and teammates, Prince decided to change the subject with finding out more about the mission at hand. Three maps and three dots wasn't much to go on, it didn't make much sense if understanding the mission was a mission in itself.

"Hey, Kenshin." Prince asked softly, "Can you read these maps? I've never been good with directions, and three dots isn't much detail to go on."

"Dots?" Kenshin questioned. "That's odd; there should be more detail than just that. Let me see?" He held out his hand and took the maps.

Prince waited a moment as his friend looked over each one quickly, and flipped them over, before turning back to him with a sour expression.

"What?" Prince asked.

"That's my line." Kenshin said annoyed. "I thought you accepted the Prophet mission like I said? These papers are blank!"

"Eh!?" Prince said as he seized the maps and looked them over. Kenshin was right, they were completely blank. "That's strange… I was sure there was at least a dot or two."

"Isn't that even more bizarre?" Kenshin asked annoyed. "Maps with dots are a joke. Surely you grabbed the wrong pieces of paper?"

"I didn't! I—eh?"

A disturbance in a nearby crowd caught his attention. It sounded like a dispute of sorts between many various players.

"What's that?"

Ignoring Kenshin for a moment, Prince went to investigate. It wasn't until he got closer that he began picking of parts of the subject at hand.

"—missions are—because of—"

"—Absurd—"

"—Heaven's Court! Missions—"

"HOLD IT!" Prince shouted annoyed. "What's going on here??"

"Who are you?" Asked a man in the crowd. "What's with that silly mask?"

"Never mind that!" Prince fumed. It was better with the mask than without it. "Why is everyone shouting?"

"Eh? You haven't heard?"

"Obviously," said Prince sarcastically, "why else would I be asking?"

"Well… the GM's have just reported that as of now all missions and quests on the eastern continent are locked! Furthermore, it isn't because of a game error, but the actions of a group of players."

"Huh?" Prince questioned. Players?

"That is to say… the top mission has been disabled, thus breaking all the minor ones. In other words, the Sky Demon has been defeated!!"

"Sky Demon?" Prince repeated more to himself.

"Who did it?" Asked a random voice.

"You need ask?" One of the top players of the group said above the others. "There's only one team that could do so this quickly."

"And they are?"

"The most infamous team of the East. The one renowned as the harbinger of death… Menace."

Prince looked to Kenshin who came up beside him. "Menace?"

Why of all things now, and more over, why did it seem to Prince as though this was going to be much more involving than it seemed?


	7. Door of Illusion

Chapter 7: **Door of Illusion**

Prince and Kenshin sat together with nearly three hundred other players in a large assembly hall that was to help discuss the situation at hand. It wasn't until after a great deal of discussion, some fights, and some mass hysteria that people finally calmed enough to properly explain what was what (although people really didn't stop to listen until after Prince had already sent around twenty off to be reborn). It wasn't long until some GM representatives came along and herded people in the right direction.

According to the representatives, the team Menace had neglected to finish the top mission in its entirety, which involves the slaying of a very powerful and important demon lord. The demon lord, often referred to as the 'Sky Demon' is in actuality the Priestess of Air—one of the five personified elements (based on the Atlantean system) that were scattered among the continents—which resides on a suspended plateau high in the tallest mountains. As only few could ever hope to reach the summit by themselves and defeat her, it was thought to be a near impossible mission. The mission design itself didn't include the team element for the victory condition, which is why Menace's combined effort had created a system error. Whether the aim for the error was intentional or not was yet to be seen.

Unfortunately it seemed as though there were a lot of obstacles and defenses that had to be dealt with before even getting to her lair, which made the task for just one player too time consuming to bother. But now, since there was a system problem, many players were volunteering to confront the mountain challenges in mass in hopes of breaking the defenses and allowing fresh fighters to the front lines. The only worry after that was whether the players who challenged Menace could actually defeat them after so many difficulties.

To Prince, this had to be the largest single movement of gathered players since the Grand Melee of the tournament. At first he was surprised that there were this many people willing to fight near one city, but then the logic came forward that at any given time cities were not filled to capacity due to parties adventuring in the wildernesses. Still, he wondered if it would be enough. After all, the 'Sky Demon' mission was the highest of an X in difficulty—so much that it almost stands as a double X.

Would it really be alright with even this much?

*****

Prince stretched his arms and looked over his supplies as the mass of players began assembling for the long journey ahead to unlock the missions by defeating Menace and either finishing the mission or being defeated as well. Because the assembly had stretched so late into the playing session they had to start immediately at the beginning of the new session, which was better because the administrators and GM representatives had organized emergency transportation that would deliver them to the gateway of the mountain pass. From that point on, they were on their own.

Although the ride there was mostly individualized conversations among the assault force, there was a great deal of silence as well. It was to be expected. While they all knew that they were going off to fight, they didn't know exactly what they would be fighting, and that was very unnerving. The expectation of facing the unknown was very terrifying.

Determined not to lose focus and fall into his own mental trap, Prince turned to his new ally.

"Kenshin, do you know about this 'Sky Demon' we're going to release? It is a demon lord after all, and so were you."

Kenshin thought about his words for a moment. "Even in saying that it is a demon lord and because of that I should know, there are many things in the game that I have no knowledge about."

"That's true." Prince remarked.

"Most of the things known to me were bits of knowledge set by the system for the purpose of keeping me assigned to a specific role. After I gained my own conscious thought and existed apart from the system, I learnt of many things, but most only by word of mouth and what I gathered from players who had challenged me. And of course, what Sunshine has told me." Kenshin looked thoughtfully into the distance. "If it is the top mission and the most difficult adversary of the entire continent and few know about it… it must be a formidable opponent indeed."

"It would be good if we can get this over with and done with as soon as possible." Prince stated openly. "Excluding getting back to my teammates in central, we still have the prophet mission to do, and I don't want to keep Sunshine waiting longer than we need to. I wonder what he'll think otherwise."

Kenshin looked at Prince with an odd gaze.

"What?"

"He'll probably think that you failed to acquire me and that you fell off a cliff or something." Kenshin remarked dryly. "Well, you do seem inclined to do so."

"What!!" Prince shouted angrily, standing up suddenly. There were players that turned to look, disturbed by the rocking of their transport wagon, but he didn't care.

"Well, it was that kind of person that decided to help us, so I can't say anything bad about you." Kenshin smiled at Prince.

"Heh, that's true." Said Prince as he calmed a bit and sat back down. He wished his teammates were here, particularly Loli Dragon as she would have the inside information, but it wasn't so bad with his new friend. After all, he was of the dependable sort. With that matter settling something inside of him, Prince was able to relax for the first time, his mind able to fall on the important matter ahead of him.

*****

-Several hours later-

"Ugh… I'm going to die…" Prince moaned with his arms dangling over the side of the wagon. It wasn't that it was painful or sickening, just that the ride itself was as boring and reminiscent as the ship ride that brought him over to the east. Just when he couldn't take the dizzying that staring at the slow moving ground caused, it stopped as the wagon stopped. In fact, all along the wagon train the various transports came to a halt.

"Eh? Are we there?"

As the various players began to disembark from their respective transports, a low murmuring hung over them like a dull roar of bee's wings.

Confused by the crowd's response, Prince looked over out over the plains and small mountainous landscape they had traveled to get here. It was completely uneventful and uninteresting. Surely the murmuring was that of discontent?

"Would you look at that—?"

"Amazing…"

"—my god—it—"

Huh? Prince groggily turned in the other direction, dimly noting that there was a slight rise in the terrain, and the sky had turned from a pale blue to a dense white color. Where the land rose a little on each side, there was an obvious path that led away from the main road like that of a cow path. It looked like it went a little into the distance before narrowing into a little band and disappearing at the edge of the grass that rested against a small rise in the distance, where the grass was tucked into the shadows. At that point was a fancy stone door—one that looked like it guarded the entrance of a cave or something. It seemed like a lot to do about nothing.

"Ah man… not another cave…" Prince started to whine.

"Cave?" Kenshin questioned. "Where do you see one?"

"Isn't it past that door?"

Kenshin sighed and grabbed Prince's head, tilting it back.

"Gah! Kenshin! What are you—!!?" Prince stopped in mid-sentence. What he had thought was the whiteness of sky was still what he thought, but instead of the sky continuing upwards, it stopped further up, where what looked to be a far distance place was nestled amongst the clouds. Like… mountain tops.

"That," Kenshin stated calmly, "is our destination."

"What—?"

"Everyone," a loud voice sounded over the loud din of the crowds, "right now, if any of you are being tricked by your eyes and your perception is failing you, then what you see before you is just the beginning of the peril of this mission before you. The white fog that blends with the ice mountains creates the perception of sky, but the peaks far in the distance beyond that are the true scale of the mountains, as the peaks are melted clean of their ice and mark the outer ring of the rise, the beginning of the sky chasm that leads to the lair of the Sky Demon.

"Furthermore, to reach the peaks and the sky chasm you have to defeat the legions of beasts that make the way their home. But before that is everything else. And it all starts past the door of illusion, that distant door that marks the beginning."

Prince still tried to piece one thing with the next, but still failed to make sense of things. By far it looked really far, but it looked close… and those mountains definitely looked far beyond anything…

"Question!" Prince shouted in frustration as his hand jutted into the air.

There were some looks of confusion and other expressions hard to identify at his action, but still it was noticed all the same.

"Yes?" Asked the owner of the voice from before.

"Um…" Prince started, baffled by what he was trying to say. "Well… how far is that door and how big is it?"

"Heh, that's a good question, isn't it?" Said the person who had been talking before, as he pulled a sword from the air beside him, and pointed it in the direction of the far off door. "That door is gigantic, and looks small, so roughly 30km? 50 km? Tough to say…"

Prince's face fell. 50km? He'd never even get to the door and be able to do anything, let alone overcome everything else, and the team that lay nestled in the sky.

"But since we don't have the time for that game and it is an emergency situation…" spoke the person again. This time he started to draw a spell insignia in the air with the tip of his blade. It looked like a portion of the air was burning with fire, when he thrust the blade forward, and a fireball streaked out of the nothingness towards the far off door, only to explode instantly against an invisible wall.

Like ripples on a pond, the air began to distort around them, and slowly, the images that Prince had associated with this world began to change its form entirely. Soon the gentle plains from around them had vanished, replaced with jagged rock and ice, and the elevation that had appeared flat became mountainous… to the point that Prince began to realize that his earlier dizziness was because of pressure differences, and not the travel. They were already high in the mountains. And most of all, that the door of illusion, was really as big as they made it to be. For just like a monstrous entity before them, it appeared from the shimmering air, a behemoth of proportions.

"The door of illusion. I would not blame those that wish not to walk through it… because there is no telling what may lie on the other side." The representative said darkly. "But for those who wish to continue to play the game as it was meant to be played, I must ask that you do it anyways."

Prince felt his heart in his chest as he considered the opponent before him. To bypass such a thing… to overcome this first defense so successfully that they were able to defeat all the other ones leading to the boss opponent of this entire set up, he wanted to fight them. He wanted to test that strength for himself.

Door of illusion or whatever, he didn't care what lay in store… he wanted to face it.

"If you've come to a decision," the GM representative stated to the crowd of warriors once again, "now's the time to act on it. So what will you do?"

"Of course," Prince said confidently with a steady voice more for himself than anyone else, "I'll go for it, because it's something I've decided to do."


	8. The Way Forward

Chapter 8: **The Way Forward**

With Prince's declaration of bravery, there was a low murmuring from the crowd of players—mostly human warriors—that came as a mild reaction to their masked comrade's words. Surely if the one they doubted most could do it, they could as well.

Not trying to hold himself back any longer, Prince began to approach the intimidating door, the one that had tricked him so thoroughly before.

"Well that's one." The representative said as he looked back to the other warriors briefly before turning back to Prince. "Ah, about that door-"

"-it's probably really heavy, right?!" Prince lunged forward as though to use his full strength against it. "Here I go!"

With that cry, Prince—who shut his eyes expecting a harsh impact against his wrists—threw his entire weight into his charge, and before the representative could get a word in edgewise, disappeared arms first into the door. With a huge ground impact and noise of disbelief, the collection of warriors could do nothing but look upon the door in front of them with a paused silence.

"Well that's one way of doing it…" The representative said more to himself than the rest, "who's next?"

While the other players considered their options—now that the silly scene before them helped dissipate some nervousness—the state of Prince on the other side was not as pretty as it might have been had there been a little hesitation. Looking like he just fallen from an extreme height, he laid on the ground with his arms, legs, and body in a very flat looking manner. With the lingering damage assignments still lingering about him, it wasn't pretty.

However, before he could get a chance to let out any hint of a groan, there was movement in his peripheral vision, as out of the corner of his eye he saw the apparently solid stone door erode slightly, and then fade as Kenshin's face immediately displaced it as he walked through as though it was just morning fog. He did it in such a natural way that it was almost hatefully aimed at wounding Prince's pride.

"I see, a literal door of illusion. That's clever." Kenshin remarked calmly without glancing back. He then looked down at Prince with an empty expression. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Prince said disdainfully, "I just thought I'd get a feel for the terrain in here."

"Let me know if you figure out anything important." Kenshin said knowingly. He took a position in front of Prince's location with his hand resting on his sword's hilt. He had expected there to be immediate resistance, but if there was time for Prince to rest, then maybe the true dangers were deceiving. He dimly noticed the air displacing around him as Prince righted himself and more players passed through the Door of Illusion.

Whether it was an aspect of the illusion or just the nature of the passage, the other side of the door was significantly different than the one on the outside. Less like the smaller jags and peaks that had surrounded them on the other side, the way of the mountains around them suggested that they were already deep among the giant mountains they had seen so far away. But, were they really, or was that part of the illusion? Also, unlike with a normal mountain passage, this one seemed to curve around them, a narrow corridor that led deeper into the mountain and a perfect place for the native creatures to fight with the advantage.

As more players began to come through the door, Prince regarded it in an angry manner. That he was tricked so thoroughly by this rock-looking door… it annoyed him to no end. Hoping to vent a little of his pent up aggression, he kicked at it, expecting to pass harmlessly through it—not a solid impact against his foot.

"Gah!"

_Prince?_ Kenshin thought as he looked around to see him holding his foot with one hand, and seeing his other hand using the door to support his weight.

"Ah?" said a player as they realized the door was now solid, yet still beheld people passing through. There was no need to say it, since the truth was there. The door was only an illusion the first time and in front of them.

Kenshin drew his blade and turned his eyes to the white mists of the obscure passage ahead. So the real door was the one in the distance, and it was among the base of the mountains. The one of illusion was simply something to delay people and keep them from reaching the real door. Quite possibly, the only way through the door was through its illusion. If that was the case, then this indeed was already beyond the difficulty for a normal mission.

"There's no way back." Someone in the growing crowd said low.

"Of course not," said a recovered Prince (although the mask was slightly scratched up). He pointed his sword in a manner that resembled the representative before. "He said it, right? If we went on this mission, there was only one way about it, one passage.

"Since we're here now, then this is where we'll stay until we finish what we need to." He smiled. "This is the way forward!"

Kenshin gave him a look that said many condescending things, but didn't utter one word of it. It annoyed him in a fashion.

"Since it's like this…" Prince started in a soft voice, before finishing strong. "I'll lead the way!" After all, if there was only one way, even his bad sense of direction wouldn't be enough to mess him up.

With that declared, the troupe started forward, with Prince in the lead, headlong into whatever dangers they were destined to face.

*****

Sometime much further and longer into the expedition, the company of warriors and other classes came to rest at the point where the steep incline lessened and things began to broaden a bit. Also, the white ice fog that had persistently hindered their vision began to lessen considerably. With a sense of vision about them restored, they stopped in a place where their nerves could relax while their bodies did.

At the beginning, when Prince had first taken the lead, the way was dark, cold, and looked like the perfect place for an ambush. In fact, there's no reason why there shouldn't have been at least some kind of welcome to greet them, unless the fact that the mission was still open remained the only saving grace. In fact, there were obvious signs of battle and where fights had occurred, with various marks, scars, and other indication of fighting. It was like following in the wake of destruction.

As the confines of the mountain began to lessen, the path became slightly larger, and various articles of equipment and fallen treasure began to litter the mountain slopes. Also, the mountain began to show its fangs; with dangers in the way itself had already taken a few of their company. This of course, included un-sprung traps, sections of the path's edge giving way, avalanche and ice daggers from narrow passages, and more.

Initially, Prince wondered about taking the treasure along the way to help build funds for his way back to central, but found that the items usually were coated with poisons or curses that led to disaster. It was what one would expect with an X mission, even the emptied path was a dangerous one. Other than that, the mountain itself left him with a bad taste in his mouth, as though reliving a part of memory. But that couldn't be right; he hadn't encountered anything like this yet in Second Life.

"Elf."

Prince looked up to see one of the human warriors that had been sticking close to the lead position, and had even helped save some of his comrades along the way. With his black, spiked hair, facial piercings, thick armors, heavy shield and broad sword, Prince couldn't help thinking of him as a knight from the middle ages infused with a gang leader. But he was glad that this guy looked a little reliable.

Understanding his appearance before him, Prince sighed and got to his feet. Kenshin was also nearby, but said nothing and seemed preoccupied with something in the distance. Without many words, the procession of players headed out.

It wasn't long after that point that the trail and passages expanded into a vast plateau. At first it was thought that they had arrived, but realized that it was still only halfway into the mountain heights, it was still plagued by residual mists, and was nothing like the description. Instead, they realized that this place was the trial point before the even more difficult section of the mission.

No longer just empty trail, they had come across a real monster for the first time—at least in a sense of the word. Rising out of the distant plains like one of the mountain peaks, a fortress of monstrous proportions lay directly in their path. Much like the fortresses in the really old screen games of the 20th century that the final boss resided in, this one was much the same, only the destination could be seen just on the other side in the form of stairs carved into the mountain incline. It was clear that even if one were to evade the defenses, the guard towers and everything else would end anyone trying to climb the passage. The only way to bypass the massive structure with walls, gateways, ramparts, guard towers, anti-siege weapons and other horrors, was to destroy it outright.

Though as intimidating as that sounded, another pang of similarity rang through Prince. He was really horrible with connecting dots between memories; it was almost like his sense of direction. The fortress seemed to remind him of something before. The tournament in Central? No, it was tame compared to this place. What's more, the memory of warriors, savagery, and darkness seemed to prevail. Also, the burning flames and smoke—there was burning here as well. The fortress was on fire?

Looking at it again revealed that the fortress was already in ruin. This monstrosity was already scorched and burning, and there were sections that seemed to have been hammered with dynamite. Also, the initial gateway and much of the metal structures around the building were twisted and torn, elongated, and sheared in unnatural orientations. Upon entering the base of structure, it seemed as though all the metal had been pulled into one location, forming a ball of destruction—like a heart of death—complete with skeletons and bodies of other monsters that hadn't been degraded by the game yet.

This nightmarish scene, and the impossibility involved with everything thus far... just who was this team?

Leaving the massive gravestone behind them, they set off on the way up the mountain, finding nothing more impressive until they had reached the topmost section, where the ice and snow had melted away, and the white fog was no more. Here, they had come upon the outer ring of the rise. Just as the GM representative had told them.

Like a cloud with substance capable of supporting a city, the ring of the rise was a magical cloud that was the sole supporting structure of the lair of the Sky Demon, that hovered among the mountain peaks like it belonged there. Easily as large as the city of White Tiger, it floated in the air with nothing touching it save for a long and treacherously translucent, rail-less, floating four meter wide bridge that swayed in the breeze. The sky chasm.

Prince swallowed hard.

They had to cross that?! Even if it was wide enough… it looked as though it was part of the sky, the sea of white clouds below them, a sharp contrast to the endless sky of blue above. Still… he took a hesitant step forward onto the sky chasm, and breathed a sigh of relief when it supported him, although it swayed slightly. The last challenge towards the end… when the real challenge would begin.

And then he was there. Prince had successfully made it the distance—although the two stone dragons at the end with their hands holding the edges of the bridge gave him an uncomfortable feeling—and set his feet on the solid ground of the floating platform… the lair of the Sky Demon. But, even as impressive as the way itself, the place itself was questionable. Instead of something grand and majestic, it was… mostly flat.

However, that which was at the far end was what gave himself another pang of remembrance he just couldn't place, and that was a single throne. And upon that throne was a… girl?

"Welcome, army of the GM representatives." She spoke in a magnified and dignified voice. Though there was a fairly large number assembled, she seemed to only look at Prince as she spoke.

"I, Angel of Menace, welcome you to Heaven's Court." She smiled in a way that gave him the chills. "I do hope you enjoy your stay… or at least... as much as I know I will."


	9. Angel

Chapter 9: **Angel**

Not sure what to expect, Prince was certainly not expecting a female player—especially one that was as attractive as some of the better looking ones he had met so far—to be the only adversary present. That and the thing with the throne, there was something about a throne and everything else that seemed to strike upon a recollection, but he couldn't remember anything that would place it.

That aside for the moment, the mind of Feng Lan couldn't help but inspect Angel's body for sake of comparison, though as a guy that aspect was numbed slightly, it was still prevalent. Well, she wasn't greatly attractive, just more so than Feng Lan. Although it was hard to compare at such a great distance to begin with—not to mention some kind of dense black robe draped around her was limiting her attire exposure, so as Prince, he'd just have to get close enough to take her out of the picture to feel better.

Without really trying to assess the empty land for any possible traps or dangers, Prince drew his weapon and started calmly walking the great expanse that lay between them, vaguely aware that the company of players was moving along with him. At first thought he had assumed that the advance would draw out an action on behalf of the enemy, but she hadn't moved at all. Rather if anything, he felt insulted that she was not only not moving, but she looked bored by the presence of the army of slightly less than three hundred before her. It was aggravating, and the thought of her loftiness made his grip tighten.

Sitting like a princess or worse, a queen upon that throne, did it really inflate her ego or self-importance that much, or did she really fancy herself as that great an opponent? It was a little more than being stuck-up in his opinion. It was one of those attitudes that etched its way into his nerves. However, before he could get too excited, he felt a restraining hand on his shoulder from Kenshin, who gave him a look and a single head shake.

It was a silent exchange, and brief… but still one understood.

It made sense as well, that this whole thing would get on anyone's nerves as they all had other things they'd rather do than stand at the highest point in the game, facing an opponent they knew nothing about other than that they had made it this far despite the challenges Prince and the rest merely walked through and struggled. There was no telling what that girl had done in the process… and as for why she was by herself…

—That's right! She couldn't be just by herself, the Sky Demon was still alive—they had said that before! Yet no matter what, it wasn't around? Just that alone was more than suspicious enough. Prince quickly looked around at the others that were continuing to edge closer to the girl before them. Was that what she wanted?

"Everyone-" Prince began. But he didn't get the chance to finish.

Instead, a large sound preceded an enormous gouge in the earth just ahead of him, kicking up an even larger plume of dust and rock fragments that traversed the empty space quickly before neatly parting just before the throne arrangement and outward at a 45 degree angle. The importance of this happening wasn't lost on Prince, nor was the fact that a similar disruption was happening at various places to the sides, where the dust refused to touch, as though something was blocking it. As for the source of the dust assault, a familiar man in heavy armor stood just before him, with his sword held out at an angle away from his body, clear evidence of his strike sweep.

"You…" Prince began in recognition of the Gang leader/Knight, just before the man's smile caused him pause.

"I thought so." He remarked casually. "Just like the reports warned."

"Oh?" Angel questioned lightly. She seemed to be enjoying the moment for the first time since their arrival. "They already have reports that detailed on us? How diligent of the GMs. I really didn't think they had it in them to do work."

"They wouldn't have to do as much if players did their part to do things within the bounds of the game. Like finishing missions and quests without jamming the system." He lowered his sword slightly as he continued to talk. "Considering this task is a solo one, having your team beside you negates that entirely, don't you think?"

"So you noticed?" Angel smiled nonchalantly. "Well, I won't reward you on just that. After all, it's my responsibility to sit here and be a good girl, otherwise who knows what might happen… but I'm thinking you don't approve of that at all, do you? Mr. Hidden GM?"

Prince had to admit that following conversations was relatively boring compared to fighting outright, but that bit of information stopped him completely. If it was true, then that guy was like LoliDragon? It was the first time he had heard the phrase used outside of private conversations.

"And while your knowledge of that surprises me, do you think I care if you know? It doesn't change the fact that we've come to defeat you, and if not us, then the next assault team." He stated firmly.

"Heeeeh…" Angel dragged out. "By next team, you mean the ones that are nearing the fortress now? I'm sorry, but by the time they get here—if they get here—you'll be long gone. It was an intentional move on our part to let you this far, after all, we were curious what would come. And what an interesting tiding it was." She finished with her eyes on Prince.

"Is that so? Then this Leif will make certain that it stays that way." Spoke the Gang leader/Knight named Leif. Some kind of red energy flowed into his blade from the ground and he frowned. "The state of this land is in decay; no wonder the missions are paused. Where is the Sky Demon? Show us the Priestess of Air!"

Angel shrugged. "I would love to, but…" she paused, with her head tipped back as though she were listening to someone. It was just a moment, and then she looked forward again with an honest smile. "Well, never mind, since we're ready on this end as well."

Prince watched as she raised an arm into the air—the blackness that he thought had been a robe was sticking to her arm like a type of energy that flowed around her—and then snapped her fingers.

At once, the blackness around her began to dissipate as other objects and people began to materialize where nothing had resided before. For the plateau it was columns that randomly adorned the area (much like the ruins of ancient Greek civilizations) and random gardens with fountains and ponds. Out-of-place wind mills of the vertical variety lined the throne platform which had become more majestic with various banners and tattered flags that floated in the breeze. The ground that had been simply rock before, now looked like a large brick layered streetscape. Behind the throne area were trellises that supported many grape vines among other types and flowering plants of great variety, with a crystal bed just beyond, made of translucent quartzes and silken sheets. All around were the obvious signs of a dwelling that was far removed from human civilization.

In terms of people, five materialized into being around the throne. Two on each side and one in front, the people being of all different races save for Angel and the other human. Each person was decked out in elite class armor and weaponry, and together formed a picture team worthy of an art gallery featuring range and diversity. Of course, this was including the entire team gathered, but for Prince's female evaluation, his eyes immediately found Angels' form.

Now free from the black concealment cloak that had been the main tie of the spell, she had quite the provocative outfit. It wasn't that she was overly offensive, just a bit scantily clad; with an arrangement where her skirt seemed shorter than what was normal, her stomach and most of her back were completely bare, and her chest (which was larger than Feng Lan's) was only protected by light armor with nearly less area than a standard bra! In regards to her shoes, she was almost bare foot as whatever straps on them were barely holding a loose sampling of padding, and her long hair was loose and flowing in a free cascade around her in what was more covering than her clothing. Coupled with a pair of intelligent and seductive eyes, she looked like a complete temptress. It was no wonder she had the throne to herself.

Aside from everything else, the only thing that looked like something that would be game worthy were her black forearm guards, integrate in both design and use of crystal decorations that changed color in perfect synchronization with one another. With the lack of a visible weapon, she didn't look like a teammate that could hold her own at all, but Prince knew that appearances could be deceiving. It's just that she looked more suited to a dating sim than a RPG like this.

However, before Prince's mind could go any further off track than it was, a crystal-like structure began to materialize off to the side, one that was tall and clustered tightly together. And in the middle of that crystal structure, was a beautiful, youthful woman with stunningly white hair that was even longer than Angel's, and flowing white garments that were locked safe from time within the crystal eternity. With a gentle face and body structure like that of a model, it was a wonder that anyone could call her what they had been…

"The Sky Demon?" Prince whispered low. No… she most definitely suited her real name—the Priestess of Air.

"Happy?" Angel asks those gathered before her. She possessed an unconcerned face as she regarded her finger nails as something of greater significance.

It annoyed him greatly. Just as he began to feel the violent surge in his blood, she looked up with an annoyed face,

"Are you still here?" She casually asked them before turning to her teammates. "Won't you just kill those guys?"

"If that's your wish…" The elf in front of the throne said with a smile. He pulled out a long staff and held it before him as he regarded the intruders in front of him with an evil expression. "Then I, Renegade, shall obey."

Without waiting a moment longer, three of the five members on standby rushed forward into the masses, certain that he saw smiles on their faces as they passed him by. Though he instinctively recoiled at their charge, he felt bad a moment later, as the area around him began to fill with the light from those departing the area to be reborn—and he didn't even see how they were dying! But one thing was certain, that the weaker players in their company were simply fodder.

Ignoring the girl in front of him for the moment—though seeing her casually talking to the guys that had stayed beside her only served to enraged him further—he rounded on those who had started laying into his own allies. Prince knew full well that the girl was at least good at concealment spells, so there was no telling what other surprises might await him near her, especially when he didn't know what her teammates specialized in. For now he'd try to sway the tide here, but there was no telling if he'd be successful. Although no matter which one he thought he'd target, their speed and power levels seemed above his own.

From what little he could see, the only guy to have spoken solely used a two handed weapon, so that might be hard to deal with, as his speed and ability were clearly something he was unprepared for. Luckily, their side wasn't without a similar caliber of person, as Kenshin was quickly there to damper his war path.

Not worried about the once demon-lord, Prince could focus on one of the other two, but which would he go for? The small one with the two curved hand blades, or the obvious berserker with the axe? Before he could really decide, the hidden GM from before appeared next to him, and quickly assessed the situation.

"Leif?" Prince asked.

"I'll get the one with the axe, you go after the brat!" He said as he pointed towards the dual weapon user. Although the other players weren't dying off as quickly now, it was obvious that they wouldn't last. "Try to hold them back long enough for the next team to get here! If we can drain them of energy, then we can defeat them, even if we ourselves die!"

"Got it!" Prince affirmed as he went for the one specified. The brat was fast, but even so, Prince wasn't entirely weak either.

"Inferno Slash!" Prince cried as his blazing blade streaked in front of his new opponent. It wasn't as finishing as it should be, but it was enough to stop his adversary in mid-attack.

"Ah!" he cried out.

Prince silently praised his efforts as the brat stopped moving long enough for Prince to take in his features, and saw… Gui? No, not Gui, but he looked like a younger version all the same. Well, he smiled broadly, that made his job that much easier.

"Oh… this ought to be fun." Prince stated earnestly. He hadn't beaten Gui up in what felt as forever.

"Hm?" Whisper stated annoyed. "Who are you, mask-freak?"

"Mask-freak!?" Prince raged.

"Whisper!"

"Oh? That time already?" Whisper declared in annoyance. "Can't be helped if it's like that, but I'll be back to clean up the pieces."

"Huh?" Prince questioned. They had barely engaged everyone, and they were already pulling back?

"What's going on?" Prince yelled to Leif.

"That-" Leif started.

"Of course," Angel chimed in without emotion, "was an obvious distraction. Because you're going to die now."

As she pulled away from the throne, Prince was certain he saw an electrical current break off from between her and the throne, as a magical staff seemed to appear in her hands. Her weapon?

Angel smiled as she raised the staff high into the air. Air that had been growing increasingly darker as the light from the sun had been choked by thick black clouds filled a now completely saturated sky above them. It was something completely unnoticed because of all the disturbances from before.

Prince gaped at the cloud formation and her malicious smile. And the realization came too late…

This was a trap!

*****

*****

A/N (6/17/09): Well it feels a little rushed, but I really wanted to get through this chapter. As it's Prince's story, many of the details and back story aren't there, but there is more, a lot more. Want more of Angel and Menace (where all the real fun is)? Get all the details in their own story, Reconnaissance, coming soon to a story board near you. Most likely it will be started after some details emerge in Parallels first, so the surprises in Parallels stay that way.


	10. Resonance

Chapter 10: **Resonance**

Prince cursed under his breath.

The obvious time delays, the swift attack layout to create confusion, the quicker than expected withdraw… it was in preparation for this! An area attack—it had to be!

"Kenshin, Leif!" Prince shouted out, he had to warn everybody of the danger, but they were too spread out. It wasn't any good—nor would it be in time.

Without trying to waste another moment, his eyes looked to Angel, just as her lips parted with a whisper.

"Lightning Crown."

At first Prince's hand flew to his head, but realizing that it couldn't be that literal he instead turned his immediate attention to the sky above. Like clockwork, the various clouds released their energies in crackling arcs of golden electricity across the sky, intertwining with one another, connecting in a great circle of lightning high in the sky above, probably much larger than their immediate area, continuing to build until there were sections of the circle that reached high above the clouds as peaks. A formation that resembled a crown… a crown of lightning. And in the center of that formation there was nothing, as all the clouds within had vaporized from the heat and created a clear view into the atmosphere beyond.

With a panicked expression he looked for potential shelter but saw none. He was just going to have to weather through it and hope for the best. Only could he? He wasn't sure to expect, but knew it was coming!

And just like that, it did.

A split second after the crown's 'peaks' began to deteriorate, bolts of lightning struck the plateau in rapid succession, ripping through their number instantly. What's more, a large number of strikes were falling just outside the outer edge of the exterior ring that held the place aloft. It wasn't long until the sky was a mix of bolt the brilliant bolts of energy coming down and the flashes of players-converted-to-light flying off to be reborn.

And then, just like that… it was over… and even more miraculously—Prince had survived. Survived and lying on his back, relatively unharmed save for a good number of cuts from flying bits of rock and brick. Also, though many had died, there were still at least fifty people left, though he wasn't sure how many were of any use now that they were half-charred and beaten. But if they could hold out just until…

Prince's eyes widened as he saw more streaks of light flying through the air, but from far on the other side of the ring?

"D-damn…" a still alive Leif uttered not far from Prince, also on the ground, "…the other team…"

_No way…_ Prince thought. Then the lightning that went outside was aimed at the approaching team? She had calculated that far ahead, that annoying woman with the skimpy outfit?

She had that much power?

"Oops," he heard that elf, called Renegade, beside her say. "Looks like you used too much energy this time. Not only are some still alive, looks like your concealment is dissipating as well."

"Ah, looks like it." Angel said calmly as the golden cylindrical staff in her hands seemed to gain previously hidden sharp ends, like that of a javelin. "I bet my outfit's not long for this world either, not that I particularly cared for it."

"Don't say it like that," Renegade joked as Angel stuck the javelin into the ground, "a change of pace is good from time to time. Besides, I thought it looked interesting enough."

"Perhaps." Angel said as she pulled a hair tie from her outfit and started confining her sweeping hair to a ponytail. "But it's good to drop the 'ditz-girl is a princess' façade and go back to normal. Besides, sitting with my legs pressed together like that is really annoying…"

"Haha… it would be at that, wouldn't it?" Her teammate agreed.

Getting to a knee, Prince could just barely make them out, but was that really the same person from before? It sounded like two good friends talking as equals, not like one was any higher than the other, which is how it seemed before. It was like how he talks with Kenshin. They were friends—of course—if they were teammates it would only make sense. Then why—?

"Well then, let's clean house, shall we?" Angel said casually as she finished tying her hair. Almost at the same time, whatever concealment had been in place began to dissolve around her, as cloth and armor not previously seen seemed to magically flow into existence. Her armor at the chest area was actually completely covering, with scale like cloth-metal creeping down her rib cage, around her shoulder blades, and across her shoulders before a thicker and more durable metal glazing appeared as two molded plates gracefully sweeping across her chest, with segmented ones appearing across her upper back. Her mid section was left bare, and her upper arms gained pocketed bands that appeared just above the elbow, with a number of some kind of metal bar-like things protruding from each pocket, with three or four pockets on each. Although the annoying mini-skirt like thing stayed the same length, a similar cloth structure extruded itself part-way down her thighs, stopped, and then bands similar to her arms appeared around her lower thighs. What looked to be a simple belt before, expanded outward and gained several pouches that was common of higher level players, while her less-than-useful footwear became fully enclosed, and extended up her lower leg as a type of light armor, before ending with a knee guard. Lastly, a gold and black patterned amulet appeared as a decorative band around her neck, with a matching tiara across her forehead and patterned rings forming over several fingers. Her forearm guards remained unchanged, but went really well with her otherwise entirely black, form-fitting outfit.

As she moved forward, she plucked her golden javelin from the ground and held it at her side, allowing it to sway naturally with her stride. In her wake, her teammates had scattered once again and into the midst of the survivors, but Prince couldn't worry about them for now. Instead, his eyes were glued fully to the anomaly before him.

Just what was she? She was definitely a mage, that much was certain… but he had never seen a mage carry a javelin-type weapon, nor had he seen the armor choice like she boasted now. Also, why was it that she moved like a solitary predatory animal when mages were usually the ones never left alone? Wasn't she exposed like this? Wasn't she worried?

And why was it… no… where was it, that Prince had felt this familiar level of fear? This dangerous presence…

He closed his eyes and shook his head to clear the hesitation. Wasn't he wanting to face tough opponents? And here in front of him… wasn't it a strong one? Not a frail girl as he thought at first, but a real opponent? So why was he shaking in apprehension??

Forcing trivial thought aside, Prince opened his eyes and rose to his feet. But the act did nothing to shake the opponent before him who calmly walked forward. Rather, she didn't even seem to register the presence of anyone else… just him alone. Why?

Suddenly there was a brief tide in the battle as one of the random fighters on her side broke off from the ensuing fights around them to turn his blade on the one responsible for so many deaths around them. With his sword drawn high, and a look of desperation in his eyes he charged forward with a cry of rage—and before he could register an action—was impaled upon the golden spike now protruding from his upper back. In less than a heartbeat later, he had disappeared into a beam of light. Angel's face hadn't changed, but there was now the other player's blood streaked across her.

It was a haunting image.

Without pausing to re-evaluate things, Angel's left hand drew two metal bolts from her right arm band, and flicked her hand to the side. At once, the two electric charged bolts streaked into two other players that had attempted a combined rush forward. Much like the guy before them, they too, transformed into a beam of light that streaked into the distance.

It was unreal. She was a natural… completely horrifying. And the memory of black with blood across it—the primal fear and anticipation was overwhelming, but what did it mean? Yet even still, he wanted to fight her—to the point where his blade rattled in his grip—but why was he instinctively frozen before her. And why was it that she was already standing before him, and locked in the gaze of her eyes!?

However, instead of trying to kill him outright, she stowed her javelin diagonally behind her back and placed her left hand upon his blade while her right hand went slowly to his chin. Without applying much pressure, she eased his blade down and pushed his chin up so she could get a good look at his eyes. And then she smiled.

"So…" she started slyly, "though the doe and wolf have exchanged places, it is the wolf that shakes?"

"Eh?" Prince uttered. Where had he heard that before?

"The eyes can't lie…" Angel stated as she removed his broken mask and cast it aside. "Though I knew it before, I had to confirm it with my own eyes." She cupped his face in her hands and brought it closer. "Prince—is it? Or was it—Feng Xiao Xiao?"

"AH!?" Prince cried out in surprise as he recoiled from her touch. "You—!?"

"Heh," Angel laughed lightly. "Though I'm glad you came back with the eyes of determination, you as a fighter are only half ready. And my reason for not losing is much stronger than your desire to win."

Prince's mind began to spin in his head as several revelations began to assault him at once, not sure which to respond to first. While distracted from the raw emotion, he didn't register the extraction of Angel's weapon from its holding.

"Prince."

"Eh—" he started at his name's mention, just before a heavy sensation of foreign substance permeated his abdomen, while the metallic taste of blood splashed over the entirety of his tongue. Together with a growing sense of worldly abandonment, he was dimly aware of the heated feeling of electricity coursing through his body, noting that Angel's hand rested at the point just below his ribcage. The javelin that had been seemed to exist as parallel shafts that jutted through him. All the while his blade continued to shake violently in his hand.

"I'm sorry." Angel said flatly as she extracted her weapon—which was the javelin though bent forward at right angles to her hand—that still arched with electrical flow in the free space between. "But there are too many questions to ask, and this isn't the place to ask them."

"Gah…" Prince said in pain as he slumped to the ground clutching his bleeding wound. He numbly stared at his still shaking hand. Somewhere in the far off distance he thought he heard someone calling his name.

"To think… in fear…" Prince mumbled.

"It's not out of fear, but resonance." Angel reassured him.

"R-resonance?" Prince slurred, his blood running from the corner of his mouth. "W-what…"

"Because we are like beings." Angel answered. "What that means to you and whether or not you can claim ownership of your own will is up to you."

"I… don't… understand…" Prince said drearily, his eyes getting heavy.

"Then face me again—fight me with the determination you found as the answer that led you to your current state. In violence there is truth for the current affairs." Angel turned away as Prince fell on his side. "I'll be waiting."

Unable to stay conscious longer, Prince's eyes glazed over as the darkness claimed him, and he slipped into silent oblivion.

*****

-The Real World-

Feng Lan opened her eyes and removed the game device from her head and laid it on the night stand beside her bed. Though it was still early in the morning, after she had returned to the rebirth point she didn't feel like playing any longer. It had been a long time since she had felt such defeat.

That girl, Angel, had been saying some complicated things towards the end. But even though she was saying so many familiar things and knew of Prince's identity, Feng Lan still had no idea who she was. What's more, the missions were still locked, and it was doubtful that another team would be able to break Menace on their own.

That much she was sure of.

What could she do? She had no idea. She didn't even really find out how Kenshin managed without her.

Ah… if only she knew how to get a hold of LoliDragon. She really wanted some inside info. Or even… just a person to talk to would be fine.

Anyone would be fine, really.

Of course! Zhuo-gege! If anybody was there, surely he would understand the situation.

Now the only thing to do was wait until he woke from the game client, and then she'd give him a call. Until that time, she might as well retire to the kitchen. After all, whether handling the saber in battle or the knife in the kitchen—it all amounted to training in one way or another!

With that she ran off already in better spirits, and hopeful that when next she encountered Menace, she could make them experience a similar fate!


	11. Parallel Opposites

Chapter 11: **Parallel Opposites**

Zhuo Ling Bin leaned back in his seat as he tried to absorb all of what Xiao Lan had told him. It was a lot to consider.

"Menace, eh?" he said aloud in contemplation as he looked at the drink between his hands. Across from him was Xiao Lan herself, as the two had decided to meet in a restaurant to discuss the matter. Although initially it was good that he had the advantage over Gui by her being confined to the eastern continent, it did nothing for him if she was trapped there indefinitely by not being able to run missions and gathering the resources she needed to return.

"What should I do, Zhuo-gege?" Feng Lan asked with an edge of plea in her voice. Though her time-killing in the kitchen had helped to make her feel better about the situation, it still gave her no new insight on what to do about it. To fight and duke it out with brute strength was one thing, but to strategize and hit them in a manner that would lead to their defeat was definitely something she knew nothing about. All the more so when her opponent seemed to know about her identity and that she still knew nothing about said person, especially when they indicated that it was a second meeting.

"I don't know," he replied honestly, "as of right now there isn't enough information to go on. Typically before forming a plan of attack you want to know the full nature of the person you confront, but from what little you told me already this person seems to carry a fair amount of variety, and she also knows you from somewhere before? But from where?"

Feng Lan shook her head.

"And that's what makes it complicated." Zhuo stated simply as he leaned back in contemplation. "What's more is that you missed seeing the abilities of her companions. Knowing the strength of her support would give you an added edge in taking them down. In addition, using the pummel method the GMs have suggested is probably going to lead to a bad situation for you as well. It'd really be like us pulling the mobs. Basically they make their opponents come to them tired, and they simply dispatch them.

"Well, they did complete an X mission themselves. That's what makes it impossible without a reliable team assembly… especially if you don't know the capabilities of your teammates. It's an all-around bad situation."

Hearing the well-sound advice from her friend and in-game ally, Feng Lan slumped onto the table in front of her with her head between her outstretched arms. She was just as stuck as he was, as she didn't know enough details nor did she have an explanation for why she froze like that. Though it was true that she felt the same fear as when she faced Kenshin for the first time… it was different in knowing that she felt it from a human player. Squaring off against a fearsome NPC Boss character was expected. Facing an unknown human equivalent was a separate matter entirely.

"Although…" Zhuo started in contemplation, "What really bothers me is that you locked up in - what was it - fear? That sounds unlike you as you are in Second Life." He thought back to her in World, and her tendency to hide behind him. The Feng Xiao Xiao from then might have acted in such a manner, but the gallant figure of the Prince she had become? It seemed impossible.

"I can't explain it either." Feng Lan said begrudgingly. "It was like I wasn't myself anymore…" she sighed. To think that she liked the feel of blood against her when she fought, but to lose it when seeing it on someone else? Was it fatigue from the trip or due to the importance of completing the task in order to pursue the freedom of Sunshine who was still waiting for Prince's return? She didn't know any more…

"I can't help but think it's attached to some kind of psychological trauma if you are like this now." Said Zhuo softly. "Otherwise you'd have bounced back already. But I could be wrong too…"

"Maybe…" Feng Lan replied reluctantly. She rested her forehead on the table and sighed. "But I can't remember for the life of me who that person is. I don't think I'd forget her if I knew her, so maybe that isn't it at all?"

"No…" said a male voice from above her and away from the table as the sound of a glass being placed on the table sounded right next to her arm, "it's definitely a psychological effect. After all, I tend to leave lasting impressions on those I meet - even if I carry a different form from what their recollection supplies."

"Ah?" she rolled her head to the side, first catching a glimpse of a confused Zhuo before seeing a frightening visage of the intimidating man standing at the table's edge. With his low hung hair, chiseled features, and piercing eyes, there was nothing but a notable aura of evil about him, as his mere presence before her was enough to cause her to bolt to attention. "Who?!" she asked on reflex before getting caught by his eyes. It was obvious that she had seen them only recently.

"No way…"

Feng Lan turned towards the startled and strained voice of her friend only to see him staring at the new arrival in utter disbelief.

_Zhuo-gege?_

"You- what are you doing here?" Zhuo asked utterly stunned. "World's Guardian of Hell's Abandon…"

"Oh?" The man uttered in calm delight in being recognized and addressed by his alter ego. "Considering you know me that would make us former acquaintances. In that case, you don't mind if I join you here, do you?" He said in good manner as he pulled out the empty chair adjacent to them and sat down.

"Of course," he started again in good humor, "I won't do so for free." He turned around and hailed one of the passing waiters. "Whatever these two were drinking; a refill on me."

"Wait…" Zhuo interceded, trying to take control of the moment. "What's this about? Why is someone like you here before us now? After all, you weren't supposed to be of this city…"

"Ah, about that, I'm not." He said politely. "But before that, I am Chung Chao Cheng. There's no need to tell me who you are really, I already know her identity, and yours is fine being anonymous.

"As for why I am here, you are right, I'm not of this city, but here because of business." He said slyly, casting a glance towards Feng Lan and smiling. "Business… or would it be more accurate to call it reconnaissance? Either way I'm here because of you, Feng Lan. I do hope you can answer some questions of mine, and in turn I may be able to answer some of yours?"

Uncertain of what to say to the guy that seemed to know her, Feng Lan started to open her mouth in reply just as Zhuo's hand reached across the way and grabbed her hands as though to indicate that she needed say anything.

"We're not obligated to answer any of your questions…" he told the man Chao Cheng plainly. "After all, what person would tell a stranger what he wants to know just because he has sat with us? Would you in a normal situation?"

"No, probably not." Chao Cheng said in agreement. "But as this is not a normal situation, and also mutually beneficial, I ask that you try your best. It is really worth it you know."

Just then the waiter returned and placed the drinks near their respective owners and went on his way. Feeling as though Feng Lan's was still too far back, he put his hand over it and picked it up, placing it closer in a gesture of good will. She took it wordlessly and nodded her head in slight thanks, to which he smiled.

"Worth it…" Zhuo said in contemplation. "How is it-"

"Do I know you?" Feng Lan asked suddenly, apparently letting her curiosity get the better of her. "You said of World… and though I do remember something about that time, didn't I meet you just recently?"

"To that question let me ask a question." He posed with a sly smile. "Does the doe of the day become a wolf only at night, or are you a wolf only when you are up to it?"

"Eh?" Feng Lan uttered. Where had she heard that before? Not the same thing, but something similar… somewhere dark and full of death. And said by… a man in black?

"_Such a den of wolves is no place for a timid doe, nor is it worthwhile for me to deprive you of your life. You have good eyes… but they are not eyes meant for battle. Earn that, and then come back to me. Fight me!"_

And then just last night when she was approached by the young woman clad in black…

"_So… though the doe and wolf have exchanged places; it is the wolf that shakes?"_

And now she was being asked about that similar thing and the two before were both formidable opponents splattered with blood. And all three had similar eyes - no, the exact same.

"It can't be?" Feng Lan said suddenly. "But!"

"Didn't I say it before in the game?" Chao Cheng said with a smile. "We are like beings… parallel opposites in every way. One being from means of special request and reward, the other from special circumstance and unfulfilled usefulness.

"Yet you had no beast to take you from me this time. And that's why it ended so. I guess there's no need for wolves to be together if they seek independence. Or are you even a player at all?"

"What?" She said confused as her mind reeled with the possibilities assaulting her mind.

"Xiao Lan, that's enough! You don't have to go along with this guy!" Zhuo said fiercely in an attempt to protect her.

However, Chao Cheng said nothing and just stared at the interaction between the two. Then he smiled knowingly.

"So that's what it was about. I guess the beast was never that far away after all?"

"What beast?" Feng Lan asked confused. She stared at the two for a moment before going back to her previous revelation. "Wait, aren't you? No, I thought it was just me… but then what you said was… aren't you?" She asked Chao Cheng confused. For some reason her body felt strange as she thought things over.

He looked at her, and then at her former World companion with a sympathetic look that said 'I feel bad for you'. Then he smiled as he pushed his chair out and stood up.

"Well I think I just about got all the answers I needed. I would hate to confuse you too terribly and affect your playing level tonight, Prince."

"Ah!?" Feng Lan started at the softly mentioned alter ego of hers. Then the revelation from before finally came forward with a vengeance. "Angel?" She pushed her own chair back and stood suddenly, drawing stares from other restaurant customers. "You… are Angel?"

In response he just smiled, before starting to turn away.

"Ah, that's right. There was one last question I had for you." He said simply.

"What is it?" Feng Lan whispered unsure.

"Why are you in the Eastern Continent? Was it by choice or…?"

"I don't know why I'm in the East." She said truthfully. "I just found myself on the boat going in that direction when I woke up."

"I see." He smiled. "Well then," he nodded at her, "we'll meet again tonight, provided you have the resolve to challenge me. Then I can tell you everything else you would like to know about.

"Until then."

Feng Lan watched him move out, stop to take the bill from the waiter from before and then moved towards the door. Although just before he got there, another guy went over to him, someone handsome and reliable looking. Someone she saw before? Someone is Second Life?

"Xiao Lan?" Zhuo asked quietly.

"Ah…" she realized she was still standing and returned to her seat as 'Angel' and the other guy left the restaurant. She was wondering what had just happened when Zhuo addressed her with a somewhat confident expression.

"Xiao Lan… though unexpected, you at least have one answer now. And now that we know her identity, I think I can offer the strategy you lack."

"Really?" She said as she began to brighten. "How so?"

"Well," he began, "This strategy has roots in World's forums. Here's what it says…"

******

-In Second Life-

Prince raised his head high as he walked towards the gathering cluster of people waiting for the next round of journeying. This time wasn't like the first round. Thanks to Zhuo-gege, this time would definitely be different. And as for Angel? This time he would ask the questions.

If it was a wolf she wanted, then that's what she'd get.

"Kenshin." Prince said to the air. "I'm counting on you."

"Is that so?" Kenshin said softly. "Then make sure you carry your own weight as well."

"Of course!" Prince said confidently. This time for sure, he'd--!

Definitely this time. After all, it was something he had decided to do.


	12. The Best of the Best

Chapter 12: **The Best of the Best**

As Prince joined with the many other assembled players gathering for the next attempt at an attack on Heaven's Court, his thoughts returned to the real world as Zhuo-gege revealed what he knew to the listening Feng Lan.

"_Basically speaking, the ACCG (Anti Chao Cheng Guild) came up with a strategy to eliminate the Guardian of Hell's Abandon by doing a reverse siege much like the one his team had staged initially to take control in the first place. However, before their strategy could be carried out, Second Life was released and they instead chose to disperse among the various continents in order to prevent his rise there. They basically left him to World._

"_However, they apparently weren't on the lookout for an exception, and he managed to get established there as someone else. It would seem that he was intent on creating a similar scenario, or why would he have taken over the top mission and blocked all others? Since there aren't many who would waste their time getting there, he had to freeze everything else. It's fitting of his character. _

"_What's more is that with his battle experience, he has created a well-rounded character that can do both wide area and localized attacks. With a team that backs him there is even more trouble that can be expected."_

"_So what should I do about it then?" She asked. "If things have changed, then it wouldn't work?"_

"_Not entirely," he supplied, "but with just a few moderations it can turn into something you can work with._

"_First, there is no reason as to why you shouldn't build the assault team like a normal one. Having various fighters, healers, mages, beasts, ranged attackers, and summoner types is vital to your offense. Since you've already been there once, it's bound only to get more trying with each fight, and that's why this should be your last attempt. Just assemble the best large structured team as possible, and remember to recycle your teammates. Make it so that those in the rear support the front, the various mages protect against area attacks, and the fighters in the front are replaced by others before they die, so they can be restored and take over for the others. _

"_If you attack in this manner the former guardian is certain to go after your supporting types. Make sure to keep several key fighters nearby and ready to intercept incoming attacks and offensives. Keep the support strong and Menace should collapse from fatigue. Even if they did finish the X mission on their own, their stamina isn't indefinite. _

"_Oh, and lastly, use your reputation. You have it for a reason, so make it work for you." _

Prince had his eyes closed and nodded to the absent Zhuo-gege in thanks for the advice; he was the right person to ask after all. When he finally pulled himself from the memory, the Hidden GM, Leif, from the first battle was just finishing his speech to the assembly of warriors and a scattering of varied fighters.

"Any comments? Questions?" He asked to those gathered before him.

"I have one!" Prince declared loudly from somewhere in the middle, a mask on his face and his hand stretched into the air. There was an accompanying dim among the people, but it didn't bother him in the slightest.

"Yes?" Leif asked curiously. Though the mask was different, he recognized this person from before.

"Let me lead this assault! Because I have an idea for how we should go about this." Prince announced clearly.

"Oh?" Asked the amused Hidden GM. "And who are you that people would be willing to listen to and follow?"

Slowly Prince lowered his arm and placed his hand to the mask that covered his face. Raising his voice and addressing them in a noble tone, he started to speak.

"Hailing from Central Continent, leader of the Odd Squad that won the Adventurer's tournament and acquired our own city, I," he removed his mask slowly, letting them see his blood-red tiara first before the rest of his beautiful face, "Prince, am here to help. I assume my reputation proceeds me, surely even here."

At once the crowd was alit with small conversation and murmurings. He swore he heard the mention of his despised nickname of 'Blood Elf', but let it go all the same. As long as they knew who he was, it was sure to give him amazing leverage over the others, just as Zhuo-gege said it would. Even going so far as to have the people crowding him before give him room as they shuffled back.

"Very well Prince, let's hear what you have to say!" Leif declared loudly. There was no need to contest a leader if it gave confidence to the people and ensured a victory, though he had doubts that it would do much at all. It couldn't hurt to give him a shot though.

And with that, Prince strode confidently through the parting crowd and took his place on stage. He had a lot to say and little time to act on it.

With a deep breath, he addressed the crowd with his opening statement.

"I want the best of the best…" he smiled. "And then some."

******

Sometime following Prince's speech and battle plan, word of his presence there in the Eastern continent was hushed and kept mum by all participating, yet still sent the participants about the cities (of which they could teleport between) to gather all strong players wishing to organize a proper offensive force, said to be under the leadership of a mighty warrior. As this was said to be a personal organization of players and not a GM movement, many more players were gathered, and organized into a collective force much larger than the first and much more diverse by far. It was definitely modeled after the kind of force Zhuo had lobbied for, including nearly every type of character class and career there was in the East… or so it seemed.

With the new assembly were specialized teams and guilds that united under one truce, until the threat was past, placing old grudges and hard feelings on back burners until their task was accomplished. Additionally, special pets were leased and rented out, along with NPC hires that were purchased by the GMs for the purpose of returning the game to normal flow. With copies of what the stratagem should look like, the assault force was briefed on where they fell into place, and what role they were to carry, as well as what obstacles to look out for. Various sections who had already gained some experience fighting with the enemy were running maneuvers on how to stay alive, with most questions about the enemy mage directed towards Prince, who had fought her directly.

While this assembly was being carried out, Leif organized some of the disagreeable fighters from earlier missions and sent them out as an initial wave in order to disrupt the enemy defense so the main fighting force could punch through. Although word from the front gave indication that the enemy was weakening, it wasn't anywhere near what should be. Although that was only from teams that made it through. Others that did not claimed they were taken out by something that wasn't a player, but could never be seen for what it was. Would the battle really go as smoothly as they hoped?

As preparations continued forward, all non-participants were sent away from the city of White Tiger, and the various shops and stores were closed. This was done to allow the force a practice spread, as well as a coordination test to see how well they moved with one another.

Although it wasn't as functional as the Odd Squad at synchronization, for a group just assembled and ranging over many different talents and skill levels it was close enough. So long as people helped each other survive then it should all be worth while. However, with just directing the fighting force Prince himself wasn't satisfied. Instead, he had Kenshin go over various movements and swordplay techniques with the various warriors gathered. Also, he and Leif discussed a division of the ranks into several fighting units that would disperse them enough that the area attacks would have to be spread out more and still forced upon them. They both agreed that if they could draw and block Angel's attacks that she would only be that much weaker. Finally, in addition to troops, mercenaries, and leased pets, they also assembled special provisional carts together in order to create a mobile base of operations and provide shelter for reserve forces to gather as they made their ascent up the long and difficult trail.

Without holding back for anything, they would create the perfect means for siege on the outskirts of Heaven's Court, while establishing a continuous supply chain in order to provide their fallen numbers an easy means of returning to the front lines. Zhuo was right after all, they couldn't afford to give Menace any breaks any longer.

At last, after what seemed like a week later, the assault team was ready to move out. Although there was some question as to how well they could do with what ability they possessed, there was no backing out now. After all, with the transports in place, the troops assembled, the materials gathered, and the will, drive, and dedication to the plan, they were as ready as they'd ever be.

"Well then," said Prince confidently before his legions of troops - a special battle mask in place of his other one more for effect than anything else - "let's go!"

*****

*****

A/C (7/21/09): Well, a shorter chapter, but there wasn't much dialogue in this one, so that's just how it is. I hope everyone is still enjoying this.


	13. Laying Foundations

Chapter 13: **Laying Foundations**

Finally before the Door of Illusion once again, Prince stared back over the collection of players and wondered if they'd be enough. Although his first trip to Menace's Heaven's Court was a less-than-perilous journey, he had heard from Leif in a private session that the situation had deteriorated on the interior. This was in part thanks to Menace's efforts, and partly in thanks to whatever had been killing off the various teams before reaching their goal. To proceed haphazardly like before was definitely a mistake.

Looking over the collection of players, character types, and NPCs, Prince had already made his decision. He wouldn't let them down, and he wouldn't make the mistake of complicating their efforts.

Divided into sections, the long warrior trains had followed just behind the hired NPC wagons and the various forms of equipment they had brought along. Although there were still other sections of the convoy still beyond all that, there was no way the land would support them all at once, and it was dangerous to try. So for the moment only the elite of assault force had gathered as protection for the base camp set up, before the various fronts would push their way through the gateway and into the long path forward. However, the distance wouldn't be as long as it used to be, simply because of the thing the GMs had allowed them to take along - a Rebirth Point.

Similar to the Rebirth Points given to player owned cities, like Infinite City back in Central, it would function just like any of the cities' ones, and they'd be reborn here if they died on the top. Although this was requested before as a temporary solution and counter measure, the GMs had denied the request, because they believed that the threat posed by Menace wasn't deserving of such. At least now they know better.

As such, that was one of the many things leased for the siege event. However, they couldn't take it across the threshold of the mission path, or that would upset things too greatly. Another set back was that anyone in the middle of the Eastern continent would be reborn here, and not in the cities. This meant that there would be a lot of players misplaced during the course of the siege. It would be a headache they'd have to put up with.

But in any case, all that would have to be resolved later, for now they had to get their starting point set up so when players died they didn't have to make the long trek from the cities back to this point. Although they might not get to the top fast enough to help, at least there would be a constant tide of re-enforcements. A good deal of the business NPCs that came with them would be set up here as a working Merchant's Circle for goods repair, potion supply, and various other aid. It was something they had agreed upon before leaving, so it was Prince's job to rally the initial assault force and secure camp sites along the mission route.

Various checkpoints would serve as helpful message points for word from the bottom or the top forces down, which could also provide adequate protection of the path from whatever unknowns might attempt to ambush anyone trying to get to the top. Since there was much to be uncertain about, it was best to be ready for anything. Besides, he had to get to the Central continent as soon as possible, which meant he didn't have the time to play around here anymore.

Leaving the formation of the Merchant's Circle to Leif, Prince began organizing the various players and helping move the supply carts forward. Although wagons would not transport through the Door of Illusion, the carts would, and would be less likely to fall off a cliff side or something along the way. To save the strength of the troops, Prince had harnesses made for the land dragons that they had leased. These dragons were powerful enough to stand up to most other monsters and beasts, and were sure to play an important role later on. It wasn't long until they had passed through the door and began proceeding up the slope. So far, nothing looked any different than before, except for a few slashes along the stone edge.

At the broadening point later on, Prince instructed that a relay point be made. Players that were unable to continue on the journey at this time were instructed to help out and rest until they were ready. Everyone else continued on.

When they were back into the area that had claimed a few of their numbers before, Prince began to see a change in the presentation of the mountain slope. Markings and warning signs indicated where un-sprung traps lay, and items that had been hazardous before had since been removed. Blackened sections of the ground showed that Angel's reach had extended even down here, but haphazardly. New and old metal struts stretched up from sections of the ground and ran the length of the walkway like that of rib bones curled around them. Prince guessed that this was to protect against the lightning strikes, but wasn't completely certain.

Once at the plateau, the cage-like structure around them lessened, but still remained in places. The fires that had burned there upon Prince's first visit were long since extinguished, replaced instead by torches to help light the way for those in the party. In the distance the fortress that had been so impressive before was now completely destroyed, with very little remaining. Because of a battle of sorts, the players had tried to take shelter there. There was no doubt that Menace was gaining in strength, probably from the experience generated from player kills, because the Sky Demon's lair was much like that of the Warrior's Tournament in its nature.

Regardless of the destruction, Prince ordered another campsite to be built, and the way strengthened by mage barriers and physical shelters, as this point was critical for returning players… though it was doubtful that Angel would have much of a chance to strike while engaged in combat. Nevertheless, it was as much to protect those trying to move forward than those falling back. If things progressed enough and the additional supplies brought up later, this area would function as a second Merchant's Circle. Since it was best to keep the force moving, Prince settled those that were making the camp, and then proceeded up the trail.

Finally, they were at the top, and the Ring of the Rise was before them, with an ideal broad area for the siege camp location. It didn't matter that it was to be on the ring itself, as it should be able to hold it. If not, the worst case scenario was that the ring and the city-sized area would fall. Whether that would really happen was unknown, but if it did, then at least the mission lock will be undone by Menace's defeat.

Prince only hoped that their efforts and his command was enough to turn the tides. After all, this was their best shot and last hope.


	14. Storming Heaven’s Court

Chapter 14: **Storming Heaven's Court**

With the hustle and bustle of their various preparations, Prince was sure to have the various mage barriers up at all times. Once or twice there were reports of a flickering of lightning above them, but it never led to anything of consequence. Were they just warning sparkles? Or were they greetings? Either way, he was certain that Menace knew they were there.

Still, despite knowing they had now taken the initiative to strike, even though striking was clearly within their capabilities. If it was that person, they should not be hesitating now. Was it just because the continuous barrage had weakened them to that extent?

Regardless of what was what and for why, Prince was nearly at the point to send the first wave, although the initial hurdle was that translucent pathway… could he really trust that it was still there? That and those two stone dragon statues that held it – they gave him a bad feeling the first time, but now it was even more so. Something about them was… no, it had to be his imagination.

"First squad, to me!" he yelled out loudly. The assaulting force this time was set up in at least 23 units, each with their own mix of players that complimented one another. The first squad was an assembly of mercenary players and ruffians that simply didn't want to be here under orders. Because of that reason alone, they demanded to have a chance to strike at the enemy first. Frankly, he thought it was better that way, as he didn't want to lead the charge this time.

"Fifteenth squad, surround and wait for my command!" Prince watched the second primary assault squad that specialized in not close quarter battles but long range, as they made their way along the edges of the ring of the rise. Their task would be an all around first bombardment of the inner area to allow the first squad time to make entry. After that, their goal would be to protect themselves and put a seal over the battlefield, hopefully with a strong enough barrier against Angel's 'Lightning Crown'. If they didn't manage to stop that area attack, the mages on the inside would not be able to protect the warriors and priests that were needed to fight and heal, respectively.

"Second, third, fifth, and eighth squads, stand by!" It was hard to remember the various numbers, but this was just to address those who would actually be fighting it all out. A lot of the other squads and teams were designed to ferry goods from the base camps spread along the way and to escort wounded players from the battlefield before they get the chance to die. The task of providing momentary cover to all those in need went as well.

While the various members of the first squad began to assemble before him, he also noticed the three land dragons they had brought with them, and how they had grown anxious. Had they sensed that a fight was drawing closer? He wasn't entirely sure, but it seemed that he would find out soon enough. He only hoped that when he did it wasn't beneath their claws…

Soon the command would ring out, and any chances to start again would be lost with this final assault. Giving those that had assembled before one final look; he noted that they were as prepared for battle as any before. It made him feel like a proud parent (he was starting to feel teary-eyed as well, but decided to keep out the strong-guy façade for as long as he was capable of it).

With his eyes turned to Heaven's Court across the translucent bridge, he almost expected a pre-emptive strike from their side, but it was still completely silent. It and the other mysteries before it only worried him more. But worries were not for the present any long.

Thrusting his fist into the air, he readied his forces. Then just as quickly, he let it fall, his finger pointing them forward towards their destination.

"NOW!!"

With a tremendous rendering of the thin air, hundreds of long range attacks varying from different elements, arrows, enchanted spears, bombs, and so much more… all seemingly finding their mark on the other side as the entire platform quaked with violent force. Then, just as violently as it had begun, it stopped, and the first squad charged forward. However, it was only in the last moment of the charge that Prince felt an abnormal feeling in his gut.

Almost as soon as the first foot had fallen on the translucent bridge, a soft crack barely audible above the roars of the players had spelled the doom of the first wave, as a monstrous clawed hand emerged from its stone confines and gripped the edge of the bridge. With a simple pull over, everyone on the bridge had lost their sense of balance, nearly falling over the edge in some cases. However, just before they could move forward or fall back, the same happened with the other statue, and a clawed hand jerked the bridge the other way. And that's all it took.

At once, in the midst of the stone skin flaking away and revealing the stone dragon statues for the gargoyle dragons they really were, players of the first squad began falling like loose gravel from the side of a mountain side, disappearing into the mists below them without a chance to cry out. Moreover, before those behind them could even hope to adjust, the gargoyles took to the air, one landing in the midst of those left on the bridge, and the other on the edge of the ring. Coupled with their size and claws, it wasn't long until the panicked screams resounded through the forward ranks, and the beams of light filled the air around them.

Completely obliterated already, their formation was rapidly dissolving as the battle ensued on the edge of everything. The hot – yet cold – breath of the creatures nearly claimed Prince's hand, as he attempted to call out to the others, to regain control of the dismal situation. However, just before he could get a word in edgewise, the land dragons before broke free of their retainers, and jumped into the fray, successfully adding to the body count as their massive forms plowed others over the edge and into white streaks in the sky.

"KENSHIN!"

Raising his voice against the overwhelming throng of those gathered, he summoned his ally just as the rampaging titans were about to turn him into the meat paste that was held within those buns he loved so dearly – vanishing into thin air, only to reappear just away from it all. He looked up to the NPC with grateful eyes, before finding something else to say beside his thanks.

"Help the others!" he shouted out, "Mages, to me! Fall back! Priests, Clergy, all squads, re-group!" He cursed under his breath as the brawling creatures thrashed into the heart of their siege camp. However, it appeared as though the land dragons were successfully overwhelming their opponents. He only wished they had chosen somewhere else to fall-

"That's it!" He looked around and saw that they were fighting just before the opening of the entrance pathway to this area. "Mages, long range force attack those things! Push them over the edge!"

"But if we do that, it'll affect those trying to come up –" said one of the girl sorceresses next to him.

"It can't be helped…" he said regrettably. "Our forces here will be annihilated otherwise!"

She gave him a nod and others in the proximity agreed as well, shouting their various spells and sending the five combatants sprawling over the edge, certain to continue their battle all the way to the large plateau below. He only hoped that the relay point there would survive, and maybe help to defeat the gargoyle creatures. Any re-enforcements would have to come when they could.

Prince gritted his teeth as he glanced around. Just in that little upset nearly a third of their assault force was taken out, and another third looked wounded. The various supplies they had brought also looked smashed… but there were still players that could heal, and others could still fight. Luckily those sealing the sky demon's lair were unharmed… but it was unclear how long their powers would last without re-supply.

If there was a window to attack the time was now, before Angel and the rest of Menace had a chance to recover.

"Mages! Who has earth and wood abilities?! Come to the sky chasm if you do!"

Despite the various injuries and personal damage, they assembled rather quickly.

"Build a bridge that works for us – if you can, that is!" Said Prince feeling a bit desperate. He was wondering why he didn't think about it before, especially when it would have made things easier.

In little time at all it was finished, and Prince gathered together the various pieces of the sixteen remaining squads.

"We're going," he said simply, "if anyone wishes to turn back, now is the only time to do so. But those who feel like me… I will win this. I will not give in, I will not bow*.

"I won't blame those who wish to run. But for all others, will you come with me?"

There were various murmurs of the affirmative, and some even stated that it was only natural. Relieve by this, Prince led the group forward and across the new entrance bridge into Heaven's Court. However, whether thanks to the assault from the fifteenth squad or another thing, Heaven's Court was mostly in ruin. All the splendor that once existed here was broken or destroyed. The great pillars broken and collapsed, the gardens and fountains dead and lifeless… even the ground was cracked and parched. It was almost as if… the land itself was dying.

"Ah, Prince," said a familiar voice happily from at the far end, "I was wondering who had come to battle, I'm happy you chose not to abandon me."

"Angel..." Prince said with dislike. He raised his sword level with his arm and pointed it at her throat. She was – once again – all alone. "Are you ready to die by my hand today? You'll find that I'm… different than I was before."

Angel smiled as she lifted herself from her chair, a familiar looking arc of electricity streamed between her hands and the chair, before breaking off. She tilted her head slightly, almost looking as though pitying him.

"Really?" She touched her lips and held back a laugh. "Well, we'll see about that. Won't we?"

*****

A/N (8/19/09): The fight starts next time.

*This was my theme song for Prince's feelings for the latter part of this chapter. Breaking Benjamin's new song – "I will not bow", it's a good one, so go listen to it if you can.


	15. Things Fall Apart: Part I

Chapter 15: **Things Fall Apart: Part I**

Prince stared along the length of his sword that was brandished before the slowly approaching Angel, a goddess of destruction and a merciless fighter that seemed to have eyes only for him despite the numbers that teemed by his side, awaiting his next command. Though her teammates were out of sight, he knew from their first clash that they must be concealed within the area, just waiting to pounce. Things were different from the time in World, and the thirst for battle converted whatever past fears that had existed into a lust for blood.

Yet despite the new found confidence and the rushing effects of the adrenaline that coursed through his system, the resonance effect from before bridged the distance and assaulted his once steady blade, giving it the appearance that he was quaking in terror before her. It was not a look that would do him justice, and certainly would start to influence the level of confidence he had secured before. Thus, before the shaking was mistaken as fear by his allies, Prince thrust the blade into the broken brick at his feet and punched his fist skyward.

"Range team," he called to the assembled fighters, as various mages, archers, and other long distance damage dealers formed a line at his sides. When they appeared to be ready, he let his hand fall and yelled out, "Fire!"

At once, the air was full of energy, fire, arrows, bolts, shot, and other forms of attacks that streaked across the former courtyard, right in line with the unarmed girl. There wasn't enough time for a counter spell, and certainly not a strong enough barrier to block the assault. However, despite the lack of time and the overwhelming assault force, she merely smiled and lazily stretched her arm before the barrage and showed her palm.

Instantaneously, the certain strike blew apart. Arrows and bolts disintegrated in mid-air, while fire and energy streaks were bent around her and struck the ground and parts of the undestroyed structures at her side or behind her, leaving her completely untouched as things began to explode under the force of the strikes. Bits of the debris and shrapnel that filled the air did not faze her in the slightest, as nothing came even close to touching her.

"What the…" Prince murmured in disbelief. Logic could not explain what he had just witnessed, and words failed him as he tried to make sense of it. She had neither the time for an incantation nor displayed an effect of her ability. So what was that?

Angel's eyes sparkled with satisfaction over the display as she covered her exposed palm with her fingers and kept the leveled fist in the same direction. There was a serious expression etched in her facial features despite the smile she wore, as her lips parted. "Was that all? If so… then…" her eyes narrowed as though something was taking her focus. "My turn."

"B-Barrier, shields—quick!" Prince cried out over the din of murmuring that had broken out from the impossible feat that Angel had just displayed. His warning was intuitive and quick, but so was Angel's action, as she broke the fist and pointed her fingers straight at them.

With a roar of some invisible force, bricks and pieces of debris were pulverized and cast to the side as something slammed against the barely established shielding that Prince and the others hid behind. Like a monstrous amoeba, the force probed the outside of the shield as it searched for weaknesses, before abating. Several mages passed out from the effort, but the barrier held. Prince and other melee fighters had individual shields that they had brought along for the siege, which trembled before them despite the effectiveness of the barrier.

"Not bad," Angel commented softly from the other side. "But probably the best you had going for you. Again."

Another roaring sound, a rush of air and a straining barrier became the harbinger for a massacre as the remaining mage support broke and collapsed from the strain. At once, the fall of the barrier preceded a mixture of cries and anguished screams as life and limb were ripped asunder. The invisible force hit like a gale wind but with blades in place of rain, as the body count quickly gave way to the familiar sight of lights streaking up from the battle field. Clerics, Priests, and other healers raced forward to heal the wounded and quiet the rampant chaos that had landed upon the gathered warriors as the unknown force dissipated.

Looking somewhat satisfied, Angel lowered her hand and surveyed the devastation she had introduced to the battlefield. Somewhere to her side, a previously undamaged pillar collapsed abruptly and she paused. Any hint of a smile disappeared as she seemed to contemplate the situation.

"Well it should be fine like this." She commented softly to no one in particular. As her foes were broken and panicked, it would be a simple matter to pick them off without going to additional extremes. Without another second of hesitation, she extracted her javelin from its holdings and began to quickly traverse the expanse.

Meanwhile on the other side, Prince, who was completely oblivious to Angel's approach, was trying to make sense of the situation. He knew that on the outside the suppression mages were keeping a cap on Angel's Lightning Crown, but he had no idea what she was using now, or how to attempt to contain it. More than anything he had to figure out a way to keep enough of an assault force together as reinforcements made their way to the top.

In an uncertain situation, against unknown forces, the state of things was falling apart much faster than he could put together again. What's more, if he died now then there would be no one to rally the troops and get them to cooperate as one unit. And he couldn't wait for Leif to arrive and help him figure it out when he was probably engaged in battle with the land dragons and gargoyles that were struggling below.

Suddenly it dawned on him that his most trustworthy ally was just a call away, and that if it was support, taking up his blade should be enough to calm him even despite the resonance effect. He reached out for it and quickly took the trembling weapon in his hand, crouched by the nearest wounded warrior and helped them to their feet. He then remembered the still standing relief tents set up outside of the ring of the rise, and knew he had to evacuate the survivors in order to regroup.

"Kenshin!" Prince called out softly as he summoned his human pet to his side. "We need to regroup before we can push into the fray," Prince stated as he attempted to bring the wounded man at his side to a healer. "I need you to—"

Prince's words were suddenly cut short as he looked up to see Kenshin's backhand smash him in the face, the force of which threw him backwards, away from the wounded man and destined to impact the ground hard. Yet before the fated impact with the ground, and before the shock could permeate his mind into forming a questioning of Kenshin's action, the tip of a golden javelin burst through the man's chest, and he promptly disappeared in a beam of white light. Prince hit the ground and his mask spiraled off to the side, as Angel quickly occupied the space where he had stood just micro-seconds before, already edged into combat as her javelin met with Kenshin's drawn sword blade.

"Heh, not bad," she commented to Kenshin as she quickly sized up his talent. "I didn't get to fight you before, and as much as the idea thrills me now," she placed her free hand in front of his chest and hesitated. "I don't have the luxury!"

Instantly, and wordlessly, an unknown invisible force exploded between her palm and Kenshin, as he was blasted across the battle field. Now fully aware that Angel was in their midst, the other players attempted to rally or simply move aside, when the unknown force moved with her weapon and movements as she spun her body and twirled the javelin about, quickly dispatching the players immediately around her. The effect was instant, and as graceful as her movements were to the eyes, their after effect highlighted just how dangerous she was.

Pummeled by the residual onslaught of the unknown force, but unharmed by it, Prince struggled to his feet as Angel tore into more of the wounded. Unlike the time before, this fight was completely different on every aspect. The unknown force wasn't a normal player ability, and yet was being used as though it was a part of her. She was also relying on it more than her own weapon and tools, as she did in the last fight. There was also very little, if any, use of her electrical attacks that he could see.

What's more, Kenshin was blown back easily by her attack, though she never touched him. He wasn't someone that could just be pushed around like that, yet she made it look effortless. There was also some unexplainable sense of omnipotence that seemed to float around her. It just wasn't normal, nor was it something he could even attempt to explain.

Despite everything, their past, the trauma of the fear from World as Feng Lan, and the declaration as Prince to just get this over with so he could get back to Central, more than anything else, Prince's desire to just stop her slaughter was the only thing in his mind. With shaking blade in hand, he lunged into the massacre and locked his blade with Angel's javelin, which was a feat in of itself, as the proximity with her forearm guard was shaking them both. Angel tried to brush him off and return to the slaughter, but he seized her wrist with his free hand and brought her face close to his own, surprising himself with the proximity. She just smiled.

"Definitely better without the mask," she told him serenely. "Your face."

"Who are you?!" Demanded Prince as his eyes remained locked with hers.

"Much better eyes like this too…" stated Angel softly as she soaked in his rage and determination. "And I already told you my identity. There's no need to ask what you know already."

She gave a light smirk and head-butt him, the effect of her tiara worsening the blow and making him falter enough for her to spin from his grasp and attempt to catch his side, which he neatly blocked with his sword held vertically against him. She smiled and smashed his foot beneath her heel, hit his chin with the handle of her weapon, and sent him reeling back with a backwards roundhouse kick. She used the intermediate time to dispatch more of his allies with throwing blades before turning her attention back to him alone.

Prince clutched his stomach and coughed up some blood as he attempted to get to his feet, struggling to keep to a knee without falling over. His condition was deteriorating rapidly, as evident by the obvious game hit point reductions visible beside him. It was clear that he was having trouble even seeing her, despite moving against her. She frowned.

"I don't mind the questions, but if you want to ask more, make sure you are in a condition that's worthy of receiving the answers." She stated coldly as she raised her weapon, influencing the metal to bend in right angles at a point beside the handle, so it formed a parallel point stabbing weapon, like before. She raised her weapon as the unknown energy bent around it.

"Make sure you carry a more interesting challenge the next time you come back," she stated emotionlessly. She watched as Prince closed his eyes and let her hand start to drop in preparation for the finishing strike.

Somewhere in the darkness, Prince heard the air above him part as though an object was moving through it rapidly, just before the scuffing of dirt, a clanging of metal on metal, and an empty wind pummeled his head. Certain that he was still alive; he opened his eyes to take a look. The sight that greeted him was an unexpected, but pleasant surprise.

To his right, a large broad sword was angled to the space diagonal to his head, Angel's weapon having drifted from its previous path to block it. To his left, a thin katana was being blocked by two crossed throwing knives held out by Angel. The blades of the knives were pressed against her skin, letting two slight streams of crimson run down her hand.

"I heard the assault effort didn't quite go according to plan," said Leif with an amused smile. "Well that much we guessed at from what you left us on the path up."

"Yeah," Prince said sluggishly, "things haven't been making much sense lately."

"I guess a certain Miss, would be willing to explain?" Leif asked, directing his question at Angel, his gaze locked onto her expressionless face.

Angel sighed and pushed their weapons out before flipping back to put some distance between her, Kenshin and Leif. She landed farther away and more softly than typically expected, a slight impact breeze flaring out around her. Somewhere in the distance another pillar could be heard collapsing.

"Sure, why not?" Angel said nonchalantly. "I've got time."


	16. Things Fall Apart: Part II

Chapter 16: **Things Fall Apart: Part II**

Prince felt a surge of renewed vitality flow through him as he swallowed the red contents of the health potion Leif had placed in front of him when Angel made distance between them. It wasn't the best tasting stuff in the world, but it was far better than the alternative of pain, which wasn't that appealing to begin with. Not having to go back to the rebirth point and make the return trek was even more important, as he had responsibilities here.

Recovered for the most part, he stood up and joined company with Leif and Kenshin, who were staring down Angel, who in turn looked to be enjoying the new odds against her. Behind them was the sound of reinforcements escorting the wounded forces to the siege camp. No one moved forward past a certain line, but he figured they were probably under orders from Leif to do so.

Another untouched pillar collapsed near them, and prompted Prince's next question to Angel.

"What's happening here," asked Prince bewildered by recent events, "what have you done to this place and what are you trying to accomplish?"

Angel looked bored for a second as she stared off in the distance, as though trying to come up with an acceptable answer. Finally she looked back to them and answered.

"I'm not really sure how much I want to tell you without giving away everything, but what I'm trying to accomplish is something that goes beyond your ability to rationalize, and it's not like knowing would make you change your stance. You'd still be here trying to stop me regardless, even if it is a temporary situation. What we're doing is something that goes against the flow of the game, much like a computer virus, it doesn't matter if that virus will go away on its own, you'd still want to get rid of it." Angel smiled thinking about the analogy. It wasn't far off from the reality.

"As to what we've done to this place, and the other things you can't explain, I think the GM there would be a faster source for an explanation."

Prince looked over at the Hidden GM and frowned. "Leif?"

"The typical game scenario," Leif started as he relaxed his sword arm. "Is to meet certain conditions and fulfill them, or else it results in failure. Anyone knows this.

"What happened with Menace compromised that scenario, and locked up the game, which is why we're here to defeat them. The conditions of the scenario were not satisfied, but should have reset regardless of the actions here, but they have not. The only conceivable way is to imprison the boss as they've done so, and circumvent its ties to its own domain." He pointed his blade at Angel and continued.

"Only by replacing the boss with your own energies on its throne would the system halt in the manner it's done so. What's more, by introducing a foreign energy into the land, a rejection occurs and the stage becomes corrupted and falls apart. In other words, the land dies!"

As though to punctuate Leif's remark, another structure collapsed in the background and the land shuttered beneath their feet.

"True enough," stated Angel as she continued to size up her opponents, looking for weaknesses in their formation. "I fed this land my energies, hoping I could become its master and it would yield its secrets. It was going well as long as the balance was kept, but began to fluctuate once your first strike force arrived.

"Whether it was instincts or game design, the land wanted to wage war against your forces despite being defeated already. When it did that, it distorted the balance and a rejection occurred. The only way to stall it was to kill off the opponents for it, so I could attempt to balance it again. But to do so I had to break my connection and leave the throne, which made the effects cascade beyond my control. The partial restoration of Heaven's Court was part of the game design, but once it discovered that the boss was absent, the land began to break apart."

"So our efforts weren't in vain then," Prince said with uncertainty. To him it sounded like anyone arriving would have been enough to disrupt the balance.

"No… that's not right." Angel shifted her weight and stowed the throwing weapons before pointing her two bleeding fingers at him and Leif. "You two were annoying, but dealing with your forces shouldn't have disrupted anything. He on the other hand," she pointed to Kenshin, "was the catalyst."

"Wha-?" started Prince as he glanced over at Kenshin. "What do you mean?"

"This is the land of a Demon Lord, there can only really be one recognized at any time unless both are active to begin with, and the owner was defeated by the invader. But he was different." Angel put something in her mouth and her fingers healed. "He came when the land was confused, and it tried to recognize him as the owner, which it could not. Whether fortune or fate, it treated him as an enemy and restricted his abilities to a level similar to yours, Prince. While it made things easier for us to defeat your force, it severely altered the balance and initiated the deterioration of the stage.

"With any attempt to balance it destroyed, we focused on prolonging its life so we could… finish up." Angel paused and smiled to them and the warriors beyond. "You'll let us do that, won't you?"

"Like hell we'll—" Prince started to say before Leif raised his arm in front of Prince to silence him.

"You know we can't do that," Leif stated calmly. "I never imagined that Prince's Demon Lord would disrupt your plans, more surprising is that you knew what he was in the first place."

"We're elites after all," Angel said with a smirk. "We've played long enough to be on par with the most intelligent of the GMs. Plus we already knew he was a mission in the East, we just had no need to seek him out."

"Then you'd also be aware of his abilities, and know that the land wouldn't aid you this time by weakening him." Leif deduced as he started to put the facts together. "That's why you attempted to hold the stage together with the original source energies of this land, and in doing so made her energies your own, right?"

"Her?" Prince questioned.

"The Priestess of Air," Leif said bitterly.

"Wha-," Prince started as he began to replay the scenes in his head. The jump in power, the lack of her original talents, the overwhelming force… it all made sense in every detail. "Wait, how is that even possible!?"

"Why would that be surprising?" Angel asked him as she stepped back, an ethereal glow enveloping her body that formed a ghostly image of the Priestess of Air over her features. "You too acquired the power and ability of a Demon Lord," she nodded her head at Kenshin, "I just happened to acquire it on a more… intimate level."

"Parasitic, you mean," Leif corrected her at he raised his blade higher.

"Each to their own," Angel said softly as the image dissolved. "But the power I need to destroy you, all the same." She finished with an edged voice as she raised her weapon. Slowly the bent angles of the javelin returned to its original state.

A small rumbling noise seemed to grip the stage as the tremor accented her remark. Nothing collapsed this time, but an uneasy feeling crept into Prince's heart. In the background he could hear the noise from the recovered siege force, as well as the reinforcements. It sounded like preparations were set on their side.

"Destroy us?" Leif smiled as he raised his mailed fist. "I'm sorry to say that I don't think we'll be that easy for you."

"Yes, yes," Angel said with a matter-of-fact tone to her voice. "You were asking questions to stall, and have done so. Magnificently, I might add." A wind full of energy began to swirl around her as her leg muscles tensed up and her body weight shifted forward.

"But you think that matters?" Angel said fiercely as she slammed her javelin into the ground before her. Energy crackled over her forearm guards as she raised her arms. A different energy seemed to flow effortlessly from the ground as it started to deteriorate under her feet. "You and your forces will soon experience the combined might of the East's strongest boss, Priestess of Air, and the Harbinger of Death of Menace, Angel!"

"Now!" Leif cried out as he, Prince and Kenshin sprang forward, and their forces cast various enchantment and strengthening spells onto the three warriors, while others cast protection shields and dampening effects on the land. Energy of all kinds enveloped everything in sight, as Angel's energy well exploded outward in a repulsive force unlike any spell in Second Life, with a force of a typhoon.

The power outlet quickly advanced on the three charging players and the army, but washed past them with little effect. Undeterred, Angel quickly retrieved her javelin and countered Kenshin's sword strike as sparks erupted from between the meeting of the metals. Her teeth ground together hard at the force of the impact, but did not falter in her stance. Instead, she parried the blow and spun to meet the next attack from Leif, upset Prince's aim with a wind gust, before meeting all three of their blades in a single block.

Angel's arm trembled from the combined force and the proximity to Prince's blade, which created an increased resonance effect. A force of wind had gusted out from the meeting, causing a rippling effect across the land. Somewhere on the side of the stage multiple pillars and structures could be heard collapsing even over the heated exchange.

Angel's hand faltered and she had to pull back before they edged in, whipping some metal chaffing with her free hand between them to create an electric threshold while she fell back before the army could circle around completely. Somewhere over the shouting and commotion she lost the use of her ears to detect the minute movements of her opponents and the three scattered around her. This time it was Prince that came at her from the side, attempting his specialized sword attack, as she intercepted it. He was brimming with strength from the multiple buffs encircling him, and his minor wounds were healing instantly from the healing array cast over him and his allies.

"So you would engage me directly?" Angel asked him curiously.

"Something like that," he admitted through clenched his teeth. "This was our original plan before you caught us off guard the last time. To focus the fighting force and back it up with enchantments!"

He swung his blade and she dodged to the side, her winds grabbing his blade and pulling him towards the ground as she attempted to strike his side. Her blade was intercepted early by Leif's large broadsword, which also severed the winds, releasing Prince. Kenshin appeared at the side, but did not close in, taking a moment to look for openings in her defense.

"It's not a bad plan, but of course we knew about it." Angel said as she moved her body gracefully between a series of sword strikes. "That's why I was trying to dispatch as much of your fighting force as I could."

Seeing what looked to be an opening, Kenshin lunged in at a speed nearly invisible to the naked eye, and struck with an upper sword strike, inches from Angel's chin as she rolled her head back, losing some strands of her hair as the blade missed its mark. Leif attempted to move towards an opportunity when Angel rounded on him, elbowing him hard in the side. She managed to block Prince's next attack and kick him in the face, as the four proximity fighters became a tangle of strikes and exchanges.

A sudden rumble resounded through the fighters as the stage itself lurched, seeming to tilt slightly to the side. The slight angle given to the grounds seemed to throw many of the supporting members off balance, as their aid momentarily weakened. Using the moment to her advantage, Angel forced a ring of wind outward from her ankles, quickly disrupting the three enemies around her.

Visibly winded, she threw a barrier up around her as she took a knee and hung her head, her hair disheveled and hanging about her face, shadowing her expression. Within the swirling vortex of air, some of her throwing blades were circling, making it difficult to penetrate the shield without losing something important. A soft, but amused laughter was escaping her lips.

"Strength in numbers, is it?" She asked no one in particular as she looked up, still breathing hard. "Ah, I've been sitting too long."

Prince was also breathing hard, as he looked with surprise at his opponent. He couldn't think of anything to say, but was both surprised and elated by the sight of their enemy crouching winded before them. He glanced to his sides, but both Leif and Kenshin were wearing emotionless expressions as they evaluated the situation.

The land seemed to groan in desperation as parts around the edges were visibly cracking and breaking as the ground became jagged in places. Though the previous tilt had since reverted back to normal, there were obvious signs that the end was approaching.

"You know," Angel started, the speed of her vortex shield starting to diminish. "I congratulated you on the stall before… but don't think of it as a gift.

"That stall was as much for us, as it was for you." She smiled a cold, calculating smile that was made haunting by her appearance. "Did I ever tell you about why; I'm called the 'Harbinger of Death' of Menace? The reason is as simple as you might guess…"

The reduced speed of the barrier couldn't hold the blades anymore and they fell to the ground harmlessly.

"I might cause death," she continued, still laughing a little between breaths. "But I'm only the first part of it."

"No," said Prince softly as he looked around him for what he feared. "She couldn't mean…"

"That's right." Angel looked up as the last of her barrier faded away, and Kenshin's sword strike fell in line with her head. But it did not hit its mark, and was stopped in midair. "I'm just the introduction to it."

Seemingly broken by the state of her energy, the air in front of her between Kenshin's sword and what stopped it began to unravel as the source appeared. An elf with a serious expression and a two handed bo-staff. Beside Angel an evil spirit emerged with dual blades in his hand.

"Renegade, Whisper… I'm glad you could make it." Angel said with a tired voice.

"Of course," said Renegade as he stared at Kenshin before him. "That's what a team is for."

* * *

10/10/12: Thanks for my reviewers last time, I made it my goal to get this out today as reward for the support. I hope everyone is enjoying this story again, it feels good to be working on it again after so long away from it.


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